To the Deep End or Out of Their Depth?

The Netherlands, Deep-Sea Mining and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1967-1982)

Author(s)

  • Yoram Carboex Norwegian University of Science and Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.17447

Abstract

At the negotiations of the Third United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1973-1982), industrialised states with the capacity to exploit the deep seabed had a fundamentally different vision of a regime regulating deep-sea mining than most developing countries. I investigate the Dutch engagement with the international regulation of deep-sea mining and show that officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs initially manoeuvred to position the Netherlands as a bridge builder between the two competing visions of regulating deep-sea mining. However, as Dutch companies ventured into the deep-sea mining business, conflicts between the ministries of Economic Affairs and Foreign Affairs became more prominent, and the Dutch position became more aligned with other industrialised states. Nonetheless, Dutch officials remained sceptical of plans to pursue an alternative legal regime favourable to business, which the Reagan administration championed. That is why the Netherlands ultimately signed the Law of the Sea, despite strong US opposition.

 

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Author Biography

  • Yoram Carboex, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

    Yoram Carboex is a PhD-candidate at the Department of Modern History and Society of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He is part of the interdisciplinary TripleDeep project that investigates the viability and desirability of deep-sea mining. His work focuses on the history of deep-sea mining. He specifically researches how both state and non-state actors came to envision regulatory regimes for new extractive ocean industries in the 1970s and 1980s. E-mail: yoram.carboex@ntnu.no.

     

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Published

2023-12-21

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Section

Articles

How to Cite

Carboex, Y. (2023). To the Deep End or Out of Their Depth? : The Netherlands, Deep-Sea Mining and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1967-1982). BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 138(4), 28-54. https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.17447