Contexto Int. [Newsletter] - Special Issue 47.2 Where is the Sea in Int. Relations?

Dear Colleagues,

We hope this correspondence finds you well.

We are delighted to formally announce the publication of the latest special issue of Contexto Internacional, entitled "Where is the Sea in IR?," which I had the distinct honour of co-editing with Dr Flavia Guerra (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro).

The overarching objective of this Special Issue is to address a central scholarly lacuna within International Relations (IR) scholarship: the historical and theoretical marginalisation of the oceanic domain. In pursuing this fundamental inquiry—why and how does the ocean recede from scholarly and political attention?—the assembled contributions collectively prompt a sustained, rigorous examination of two key analytical challenges:

1. The specific mechanisms through which IR has historically relegated the oceanic domain to the periphery of its dominant analytical frameworks.
2. The subsequent broader political and theoretical implications that stem from this systematic exclusion.

The volume is structurally organised around three distinct, yet interconnected, thematic axes, each seeking to contribute to a deeper engagement with the marine sphere:

1. The Marginalisation of the Ocean in IR: Conceptual and empirical explorations of how the sea is actively rendered absent or subordinate within core theoretical debates.
2. Complex Entanglements between the Ocean and Ontological Security: Analyses focusing on the relationship between maritime spaces, existential anxieties, and state identity formation.
3. Ocean Governance as Regulatory Mechanism and Platform for Political Discourse: Critical assessments of regulatory frameworks and their role in structuring political contestation over the maritime commons.

We sincerely hope that you find the contributions within this volume to be a compelling and theoretically relevant read that stimulates further research and critical reflection within the discipline.

Special Issue: Where is the Sea in IR?

Where is the Sea in International Relations?
  Francisco Eduardo Lemos de Matos; Flávia Guerra Cavalcanti

Abstract | Full text

Table of Contents: https://www.scielo.br/j/cint/i/2025.v47n2/

Includes - Addressing 'Maritime Aphasia' in International Relations
  Bruno Sowden-Carvalho; Marcelo M. Valença

Between Nuclear Tests and Rising Sea Levels
  Beatriz Rodrigues Bessa Mattos

Carl Schmitt on the Move: Spatial Politics and the (political) Sacrifice of the Sea
  Francisco Eduardo Lemos de Matos

Thinking Ontological (In)Security with Water: The Place of the Ocean in Boat Migration
  Flávia Guerra Cavalcanti

What is the Place of Mar de Timor in Timorese Geopolitics, Culture and Education?
  Silvia Garcia Nogueira; Betina Lopes; Ângelo Ferreira; Samuel de Souza Freitas

Fluid Boundaries: Reassessing Maritime Spaces and Nomadic Waves in International Relations Theory
  Henrique Campos de Oliveira

The Third Bank of the Sea: Maritime Traces of Constitutive Outside(r)s and International Ontopolitical Lines
  Roberto Vilchez Yamato; Gustavo Alvim de Góes

Ocean Governance, Maritime Security, and International Relations
  Daniele Dionisio da Silva; Gilberto Carvalho Oliveira

Sailing on Waves beyond National Sovereign Land Borders: On the Crossroads between International Ocean Relations and the Blue Economy
  Thauan Santos

Regards,
chico

Francisco Eduardo Lemos de Matos
Doutor em Relações Internacionais pelo IRI/PUC-RIO.
Pesquisador de Pós-Doutorado em Relações Internacionais no IRI/PUC-RIO pela FAPERJ.

Rede IPS Brasil - https://www.ipsbrasil.com/
Lattes: https://lattes.cnpq.br/9338374067089166
Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4214-5382

My source: DOINGIPS list - https://www.doingips.org/