The Open Seas Are Becoming No-Man's-Land

Howell, Llewellyn D., USA TODAY

Economic globalization increasingly is invading what were, only recently, sovereign domestic matters of virtually every nation-state. Such matters include everything from economic, political, and social to religious and ethical. Linkages of every imaginable kind are necessarily and irrevocably following the network of economic interdependence.

These new networks are webs of existing social domains. They don't include those vast areas of the Earth where human systems have no roots in landed territory. The seas remain governed by loose treaty arrangements and often-unenforced agreements of international organizations. Among the ongoing disputes and conflicts that already are pervasive, but will continue to grow as human demands on the sea expand, are competition for mineral and natural gas access, challenges on intentional pollution, debates and fears over sea lines of communication (especially for navies), and depletion of fish resources.

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Publication information: Article title: The Open Seas Are Becoming No-Man's-Land. Contributors: Howell, Llewellyn D. - Author. Magazine title: USA TODAY. Volume: 127. Issue: 2648 Publication date: May 1999. Page number: 35. © 2009 Society for the Advancement of Education. COPYRIGHT 1999 Gale Group.

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