Christian Bueger


by

Training maritime security practitioners in Singapore

This week I have been contributing to the annual Regional Maritime Practitioner Programme (RMPP) for the fourth time. Organized by the Singapore Navy in partnership with the maritime security team at RSIS | S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, RMPP is a major networking and training event for maritime security.

The event reflects that, despite being a small state, Singapore is a major maritime power. The country plays an important role in regional maritime security cooperation. It hosts the most important high-level naval gathering in the region, is known as a pioneer in regional maritime domain awareness through the Information Fusion Center (IFC), and frequently engages in and supports capacity building and training initiatives. The RMPP is one example of this.

At its core, the event is a maritime security community building initiative. It combines educational content with networking and, as the organizers call it, “the Singapore experience” – ample time for the group to explore maritime-related attractions in the garden city.

The event’s stated aim is “to enhance appreciation of the evolving regional maritime security environment and associated security challenges, to build professional knowledge and requisite skills to perform duties as a maritime security practitioner, and to forge friendships and build trust among regional maritime security practitioners.”

About half of the time is spent with lectures and group exercises, while the afternoons are reserved for excursions, including to the splendid Singapore Navy museum (worth a visit!). It also includes attendance at the Shared Awareness Meeting (SAM) through which the IFC keeps the local maritime industry informed about maritime security trends.

About 150 officials from navies, coastguards, and the maritime industry participated this year. Initiatives such as the RMPP are partially a confidence building measure, but also ensure interoperability and the relationships of trust that the IFC’s information sharing network relies on.

The direct impact of events such as RMPP is difficult to measure. Yet, it is part of a global chain of such events, which arguably have had the effect of building a strong maritime security consensus over the last decades.


by

New book on global ocean regions

Our new book titled the ‘Politics of Global Ocean Regions’ is now available through Springer. Edited with Elizabeth Mendenhall and Rebecca Strating, the book advances a novel analytical framework for studying the politics of global ocean regions, shedding new light on the complex interactions in ocean spaces such as the Arctic, Indo-Pacific, and Indian Ocean.

We want to show that the oceans are not just vast expanses of blue, but dynamic political spaces shaped by complex regional dynamics. This work is the outcome of a three year research collaboration with leading experts across different ocean regions. It includes chapters by by William Waqavakatoga, Joanne Wallis, Samuel Bashfield, Leandra R. Gonçalves, Ana Flávia Barros-Platiau, Carlos Henrique Tomé, Carina Costa de Oliveira, and Andreas Østhagen, as well as by the three editors.

Written for students, researchers, and analysts interested in regionalism and ocean governance, this comprehensive study:

  • Presents a novel framework for analyzing ocean regions as political spaces
  • Examines the emergence, organization, and effects of global ocean regions
  • Demonstrates the importance and complexity of regional maritime politics
  • Provides essential insights for understanding the governance of global commons

🔗 Available now: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-88984-4 (Contact me, if you cannot access via your institution)

I hope this work will serve as an essential resource for understanding how diverse and complex regional maritime politics shape our world, providing a valuable framework to guide future research in this critical field.


by

Strategic foresight seminar by the Colombian navy

This week, I had the privilege of contributing to Colombia’s Navy Strategic Foresight seminar – a fascinating glimpse into how one of South America’s most capable maritime forces is preparing for 2055.

Colombia’s unique position as a two-ocean country, with coastlines on both the Pacific and Atlantic (through the Caribbean Sea), has shaped its navy into not just South America’s largest, but a recognized regional maritime security leader. From counter-narcotics operations to counter-piracy missions in the Western Indian Ocean, and the countries role as a global partner of NATO, Colombia maintains a impressive global profile.

At the seminar I gave a lecture on the future of maritime security and participated in a round table. I emphasized Colombia’s potential to lead maritime security across Latin America, the Caribbean, and the broader Atlantic region. I also stresses the role of the navy in protecting critical maritime infrastructure – particularly as Colombia pursues its ambitious goals to become both a renewable energy powerhouse and a digital leader.

Keynote speakers and host at seminar in Bogota
Keynote speakers and organizers of the seminar, Bogota, 18.6.2025

The country’s enormous offshore wind potential and its reliance on secure subsea data cables make maritime infrastructure protection a national security imperative. It was eye-opening to see how naval strategy is evolving beyond traditional threats.

Other participants highlighted several important maritime security trends, including automation and AI integration in naval operations, proliferation of disruptive weapons and surveillance technologies, including autonomous systems, escalating cybersecurity challenges, the adaptability of criminal organizations, and the prospective threats of grey zone warfare in the region.

My time in Bogotá also provided valuable insights into Colombia’s comprehensive approach to regional security, including the innovative counter-narcotics naval campaign Orion and the regional analysis center CMCOM.


by

New commentary on global responsibility to protect the sea published

My latest commentary explores a critical paradox: while all nations depend on the sea for trade, energy, and digital communication, some benefit from the sea economically more than others. Some states, such as small islands, face high risks but have few benefits. The global responsibility to protect the sea hence needs burden-sharing. Organizing this is not easy. I highlight three puzzles:

  • The governance puzzle: A plethora of international and regional organizations handle maritime security, often with overlapping mandates and competing priorities
  • The limits of capacity building: External assistance often has limited effects
  • The militarization dilemma: Naval forces are needed to combat piracy and trafficking, but can escalate geopolitical tensions

I stress that maritime challenges require innovative solutions that balance sovereignty with international cooperation. The success stories – like Seychelles’ anti-piracy efforts and the Indian Ocean Commission’s MASE structures – show what’s possible when capacity building is done right.

The commentary is published by CIMSEC as part of the 2025 African Maritime Force Summit series, and available here.


by

Briefing at conference on zones of peace

On the 16th of June I had the pleasure to give a briefing at the Bahamas Conference on Zones of Peace in Global Waters organized by Bahamas and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation at the UN. Here is the write up of my intervention.

Zones of Peace as Regionalist Solutions: Navigating Global Ocean Politics

The oceans have captured significant high-level attention in recent weeks, with the UN Ocean Conference in Nice and the UN Security Council’s maritime security high-level open debate highlighting both consensus and fundamental tensions in global ocean governance. These events underscore a critical debate that has long shaped maritime policy: whether ocean challenges are better addressed through global frameworks at the UN level or through regional arrangements. The concept of zones of peace deserves recognition as a potential distinctly regionalist approach to ocean governance.

Continue reading →


by

Briefing the UN Security Council

The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to hold a high-level open debate on maritime security on 20.5. Initiated by the Greek presidency of the Council the event is titled “Strengthening Maritime Security through international cooperation for global stability”.

I’m delighted that the presidency has invited me to brief the Council. My presentation draws in large parts on our 2024 report ‘Securing the Seas. A comprehensive assessment of global maritime security‘ published by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), written with Tim Edmunds and Jan Stockbruegger.


by

Naval symposium in Singapore

Among international naval conferences, the International Maritime Security Conference (IMSC) of the Singapore Navy stands as the most significant for Southeast Asian countries. Over the past few days, I had the pleasure to attend at Changi Exhibition Centre.

The event featured distinguished speakers from academia alongside representatives from the maritime security forces of Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and the United States. Participants reaffirmed their commitment to information sharing, capacity building, and upholding the status quo, while addressing current challenges. As in previous years, IMSC was also a major gathering of global maritime security experts, including participants from China, Europe, and the United States.

Key take aways:

  • The South China Sea situation remains central to the regional maritime security agenda, though discussions carried a more optimistic tone than in previous years.
  • Critical maritime infrastructure protection has emerged as a priority for regional states, with particular focus on subsea data cables. ASEAN could potentially develop coordinated efforts in this direction.
  • The proliferation of autonomous weapon systems and strategies for responding to grey zone operations represent the most challenging issues currently facing the region.

This shows how such events are a useful barometer for how security discourse is developing, which is one of the arguments which I am developing in a new project on the impact of global military gatherings.


by

Our Ocean Conference in Korea

Ocean governance is complex. More than 26 UN organizations govern some part of the ocean, and the number of mechanisms for regional seas is even higher. One of the initiatives that cuts through this complexity is the annual Our Ocean Conference (OOC). This week, I had the pleasure of attending the 10th edition of the event in Busan, Korea, and presenting our recent maritime security study at a side event.

The OOC is a format introduced by the United States in 2014 under the Obama administration. At the event, key ocean challenges are discussed at senior expert and ministerial levels, and states, industry, and NGOs are invited to make commitments.

Key themes of this year’s gathering were the expansion of marine protected areas, sustainable fishing, and the decarbonization of shipping. The gathering is also a significant networking opportunity with dozens of side events, receptions, and dinners.

For the anniversary, Korea funded an assessment of the format’s past achievements and introduced a digital focus with a stronger business component. The conference now has a formal secretariat that tracks commitments and will support the 2026 host, Kenya, and the city of Mombasa.

Our side event was hosted by the Embassy of Denmark in Korea, the Korea Institute for Maritime Strategy (KIMS), United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, and the University of Copenhagen, with support from the Velux Foundation. We explored pathways for building stronger links between maritime security and the blue economy.

The OOC exemplifies why we need these links, as ocean discussions rarely consider security beyond illicit fishing. A discussion of the role coastguards and navies play in marine conservation, for instance, is often missing.


by

Legal expert meeting in Brussels

The number of maritime accidents and dangerous situations in European seas continues to rise dramatically. Damage to underwater infrastructure, substandard vessels in distress, and unusual ship accidents indicate growing instability in the European maritime space.

It remains uncertain which of these incidents can be linked to deliberate acts, or whether some are state-sponsored. Regardless of whether regional seas such as the Baltic are now in the ‘grey zone’ between war and peace, Europe needs to better protect its maritime activities, installations, and the environment.

On Friday, 21.3., I had the pleasure to speak at a workshop in Brussels organized by the European External Action Service – the EU’s diplomatic service. The workshop convened Law of the Sea and maritime security experts from member states and the Commission, with the key objective of identifying legal options and new actions to make the EU’s waters safer.

What are the legal foundations to improve law enforcement to prevent accidents, conduct thorough investigations, and prosecute perpetrators? The EU does not have a unified voice when it comes to how the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and other conventions should be interpreted.

For instance, when and where can a ship be stopped and boarded without waiting for flag state permission? What are the limits of ‘innocent passage’ – the key concept to ensure freedom of navigation in the Law of the Sea?

The EU will continue to grapple with these questions, but it is important that an organized discourse is now underway. Having the right laws in place is equally important as developing the right technology or strengthening operational coordination.


by

The EU’s progress in maritime domain awareness – demonstration in Rome

🔎 The backbone of maritime security are information sharing systems. These are important for sharing information, such as suspicious vessels of interest, between agencies and states and to facilitate joint operations.

⚓ To get a better understanding of what happens in European seas, the European Union is developing two systems. The Common Information Sharing Environment, known as CISE connects civilian authorities, coast guards, fishery protection and police. The MARSUR system provides such services for the military and aims at sharing also classified, secrete information.

🌍 Yesterday I had the pleasure to attend an operational demonstration of MARSUR at the EUNAVFOR headquarters in Rome. Key insights:

➡️ MARSUR is based on an agreement between 22 European states, which includes the United Kingdom and Norway. Its development is led by the European Defense Agency (EDA) since 2005. The system has for long been under development and only recently gained full operational capability, now in a version known as MARSUR 3.

➡️ The event, attended by representatives of European navies, the European Commission and the European External Action Service, showcased how MARSUR can be used to share information and provides rules based threat detection capabilities. Most importantly it allows to gain a shared cross-European picture of the sea.

➡️ The system now also includes a direct link to the civilian CISE system and a link to NATO information sharing tools is under development.

➡️ The demonstration in Rome was an invitation to participating states to start using the system and connect to it, as only five states so far have a working link. The system will be particularly useful for joint operations by the European Naval Forces.

➡️ MARSUR continues, however, to be in development. For now it is too reliant on AIS data, does not directly integrated data from satellites or live feeds from cameras for instance. Working towards standardized European-wide risk profiles of vessels moreover would be an important step of the process. Ensuring that the CISE integration works well and information, including from databases such as customs, will be vital in making MARSUR effective.

⚓ The half day event also featured a review of the current EU maritime security system, included the Coordinated Maritime Presences, the Maritime Area of Interest Coordination Cell, and the three current naval operations Atalanta, Aspides and Irini.

🙏 I had the pleasure to address the audience in the opening panel and introduced some ideas of what the big upcoming challenges for MDA are, including the need to integrate critical maritime infrastructure protection, cyber security and ensuring better application interfaces between platforms.