Doctoral Dissertation Research: Sea Ice and Sociolegal Dynamics in a Changing Arctic Ocean Environment

博士论文研究：不断变化的北冰洋环境中的海冰和社会法律动态

• 批准号: 1558196
• 负责人: Deborah Martin
• 金额: $ 1.28万
• 依托单位: Clark University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-05-01 至 2018-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1558196&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Sea; Ice

This doctoral dissertation research project will examine how the changing nature of sea ice influences marine sociolegal dynamics, with special attention given to disputes regarding maritime boundaries and resources in the Beaufort and Bering Seas. The doctoral student will explore how the law could potentially recognize sea ice as a flexible entity that is incorporated into multiple legal spaces and systems. The project will broaden theoretical understandings of linkages among human systems, climate and environmental change, and spatial dimensions of the ocean and law in the greater Arctic region. The project will advance conceptualizations of sea ice in a way that recognizes that sea ice is not a stationary object, because it moves through time and space in response to the physical forces of wind, ocean currents, and heating. Furthermore, sea ice is neither terrestrial nor marine, just as it is neither purely solid nor liquid. Project findings will expand knowledge about the relationships between this dynamic physical element and the political powers that govern a complex ocean environment. The project will provide new insights regarding how the law can recognize sea ice as a flexible entity that is attached to and integrated into multiple legal spaces and systems. These insights will be of value to those charged with overseeing activities in regions where sea ice occurs. Among those organizations is the multinational Arctic Council, which the United States chairs from 2015 to 2017. Project findings will help address two of the focus areas of the U.S. chairmanship (the impacts of changing climate and environmental conditions and Arctic Ocean safety, security, and stewardship) by expanding knowledge about the role that changing spatial sea ice patterns have in the many political debates of this region. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.Changes to the spatial extent of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean simultaneously permit and endanger maritime operations, and those changes impact current debates over maritime boundaries, presenting an interesting challenge for international law. In conducting this project, the doctoral student will combine perspectives from the fields of legal geography and ocean-space studies to assess how dynamic and changing sea ice shapes the marine social-environment, particularly in terms of legal and political contestations in ocean-spaces of the greater Arctic region. The student will use three data-collection strategies: legal archival analysis to gain a base understanding of all relevant laws and agreements; document analysis of reports and other official documents to understand and contextualize the broader environmental, social, political and economic issues in each of these regions; and semi-structured interviews with policy experts, operational experts that work in sea-ice areas, and sea-ice researchers. The interviews will focus on participants' experiences with boundary issues in sea-ice waters, their perceptions of sovereignty, their experience with resource extractive operations in sea-ice waters, and their perceptions of change in an already dynamic Arctic marine environment.

该博士学位论文研究项目将研究海冰的变化性质如何影响海洋社会动态，并特别注意有关博福特和白令海中海上界限和资源的争议。 博士生将探讨法律如何将海冰承认为一个灵活的实体，并将其纳入多个法律空间和系统中。 该项目将扩大对人类系统，气候和环境变化之间联系的理论理解，以及大北极地区海洋和法律的空间维度。 该项目将以一种认识到海冰不是固定物体的方式来推进海冰的概念化，因为它会响应风，洋流和供暖的物理力而贯穿时空。 此外，海冰既不是陆生，也不是海洋，就像它既不是纯固体也不是液体。 项目发现将扩大有关这种动态物理元素与控制复杂海洋环境的政治力量之间关系的知识。 该项目将提供有关法律如何将海冰视为柔性实体并将其集成到多个法律空间和系统中的灵活实体的新见解。 这些见解对于那些在海冰发生的地区负责监督活动的人来说是有价值的。 其中包括跨国北极委员会，美国从2015年到2017年。项目发现将有助于解决美国主席的两个重点领域（改变气候和环境条件以及北极海洋安全，保障和管理人员的影响，通过扩大空间海冰模式在许多政治辩论中的作用来扩大知识，以实现这一地区的许多政治辩论。 作为博士学位论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大的独立研究职业。北极海洋中海冰的空间范围同时允许和危害海上危险的海上行动，这些变化影响了当前对海上界限的辩论，对国际法律提出了有趣的挑战。 在进行该项目时，博士生将结合法律地理和海滩研究领域的观点，以评估动态和变化的海冰如何塑造海洋社会环境，尤其是在大北极地区海洋空间中的法律和政治竞争方面。 学生将使用三种数据收集策略：法律档案分析，以基本了解所有相关法律和协议；报告和其他官方文件的文档分析，以了解和背景化这些地区的更广泛的环境，社会，政治和经济问题；以及与政策专家，在海冰地区工作的运营专家和海冰冰研究人员的半结构化访谈。 访谈将集中在参与者在海冰水域中边界问题的经历，他们对主权的看法，他们在海冰水域中进行资源提取行动的经验以及他们对已经充满活力的北极海洋环境中变化的看法。