Maritime Geopolitics and the role of port cities and international straits in a multilateral context.

Abstract

This dissertation examines port cities, maritime choke points and international straits to analyze the relevance of multilateralism and the implications of a complex interplay between power politics, balance of power and multilateral cooperation. Several case studies in the Black Sea, in the Mediterranean and in international straits can namely shed light on the transnational challenges and the need to cooperate despite a fierce competition for natural resources. Global phenomena such as the interconnectedness of international maritime trade imply the need to overcome mere power politics, even though tensions and diverging geopolitical interests persist. The analysis is based on a highly multidisciplinary approach and relies on the methodology of Global history as a tool to analyze the evolution of globalization in port cities and maritime routes beyond a mere Eurocentric perspective. The challenges in maritime choke points can be considered as the evidence that classical political assumptions such as the concept of balance of power are being reshaped and important analogies with early modern political contexts can be detected. The dissertation aims to prove that a multidisciplinary analysis of maritime straits and port cities can be beneficial to grasp the evolution of classical political concepts, starting from the historical roots of global phenomena up to the forms of multilateralism promoted by international organizations such as the OSCE and the SCO.