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Avoiding and exploiting the tragedy of the commons: fishing, crime, and conflict in the South China Sea

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Abstract

What factors have driven the dramatic depletion of fishery resources in the South China Sea, and how have states responded? This article demonstrates that a complex mix of political, economic, and security drivers has led to the fishing crisis in the South China Sea in the fashion of a classic “tragedy of the commons.” Although states have attempted to solve this problem by cooperating through bilateral, regional, and international arrangements, the article argues that states have also sought to exploit the situation as part of “hybrid” or “gray zone” strategies that blur the lines between private and public actors and between law enforcement and military activities.  It identifies four mechanisms through which the conditions associated with the tragedy of the commons enable states to put fishers and fishing regulation on the frontlines of defending their territorial claims in the South China Sea.

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Fig. 1

Source: adapted by author from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (2017)

Fig. 2

Source: compiled by author from Pauly, Zeller and Palomares (2020)

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Acknowledgements

An early version of this article benefited from feedback from the participants of the conference on “Maritime Asia: The Securitization of the China Seas in the 19th–21st Centuries” hosted by the University of Cambridge and the University of California, Berkeley, on August 9–12, 2021. Casey Schneider-Mizell provided assistance with figure design.

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  1. Department of Asian Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Moore Hall 416, 1890 East-West Rd, Honolulu, HI, 96822-2234, USA

    Kristi Govella

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Govella, K. Avoiding and exploiting the tragedy of the commons: fishing, crime, and conflict in the South China Sea. Int Polit 60, 1294–1314 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41311-023-00501-4

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