Abstracts Political Science

Οι ελευθερίες στις ανοιχτές θάλασσες κατά το διεθνές δίκαιο: εφαρμογή στον ημίκλειστο Μεσογειακό χώρο από τις οριοθετήσεις των Μεσογειακών κρατών

by Alexis Ziogas

The starting point of the present dissertation was the reflection upon the gradual restriction of the High Seas. Since the middle of the 20th century, maritime space gradually acquired greater importance as a field of international politics. The development of new forms of exploitation of marine and submarine natural resources together with the codification of the Law of the Sea prompted coastal states to seek the expansion of their maritime jurisdiction, a fact that also ignited the first international disputes over the delimitation of the maritime space.In the Mediterranean Sea, where the entitlements of coastal states in maritime zones overlap, it is necessary to delimit the maritime zones either via the conclusion of delimitation agreements or through the mediation of international justice. However, the implementation of the above-mentioned solutions is not always feasible, leading to numerous disputes regarding the limits of maritime zones.The present thesis aims at understanding the specificities of the legal status of the High Seas in the Mediterranean Sea through the practice of coastal states in matters of delimitation of maritime zones. It also seeks to examine in an interdisciplinary manner the way of how different combinations of causal conditions lead the Mediterranean coastal states to different political choices regarding the delimitation of the maritime space. To draw conclusions, the innovative method of crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (csQCA) was applied in combination with a more classical approach consisting in the literature review. The csQCA method facilitated the comparison of the final sample, which consists of pairs of states covering the totality of the Mediterranean area.The conclusions of this Ph.D. thesis demonstrate that the Mediterranean High Seas are potential EEZs upon which the coastal states bear legal expectations diminishing the scope of certain freedoms of the High Seas. It is also demonstrated that the agreements or disagreements of the Mediterranean coastal states upon the delimitation of maritime zones can be explained by the combination of multiple necessary and/or sufficient conditions. Additionally, the present thesis asserts that there are more than one causal pathway leading to the presence, but also to the absence of the result of interest, which consists in the signing and entry into force of an agreement upon the delimitation of maritime zones in the Mediterranean Sea. Αφετηρία του ερευνητικού προβληματισμού γύρω από τον οποίο δομείται η παρούσα διατριβή υπήρξε ο σταδιακός περιορισμός των ανοιχτών θαλασσών. Από τα μέσα του 20ου αιώνα ο θαλάσσιος χώρος απέκτησε σταδιακά μεγαλύτερη σημασία ως πεδίο της διεθνούς πολιτικής, καθώς η εμφάνιση και ανάπτυξη νέων μορφών εκμετάλλευσης των θαλάσσιων και υποθαλάσσιων φυσικών πόρων σε συνδυασμό με την κωδικοποίηση του δικαίου της θάλασσας, ώθησαν τα παράκτια κράτη στο να επιδιώξουν την επέκταση της θαλάσσιας δικαιοδοσίας τους. Μαζί όμως με τα πρώτα σύγχρονα θαλάσσια σύνορα ανέκυψαν και οι πρώτες διεθνείς διαφορές γύρω…