Maritime Boundary Tension, Resource Competition, and Strategic Security in Small States

Abstract

This article examines why maritime boundary disputes and uncertainty carry disproportionate consequences for small states. It argues that unresolved or weakly managed maritime boundaries do not merely generate diplomatic friction; they affect resource security, investment certainty, fisheries management, offshore licensing, and national strategic posture. In an era of heightened competition over offshore hydrocarbons, marine biodiversity, and blue-economy assets, legal certainty at sea has become a core dimension of state capacity. Drawing on the law-of-the-sea framework and small-island development literature, the article contends that small states require proactive maritime legal strategy, technical delimitation capability, and integrated ocean governance. Maritime vulnerability is not defined only by naval weakness. It also includes delayed delimitation, poor data, weak inter-agency coordination, and inadequate translation of legal entitlement into governable maritime space.