Drawing on their expertise in geography, political science, international relations, and communication studies, McDowell, Steinberg, and Tomasello investigate specific policy problems encountered as international organizations, corporations, and individual users try to "manage" a space that simultaneously contradicts and supports existing institutions and systems of governance, identity, and technology.

Drawing on their expertise in geography, political science, international relations, and communication studies, McDowell, Steinberg, and Tomasello investigate specific policy problems encountered as international organizations, corporations, and individual users try to "manage" a space that simultaneously contradicts and supports existing institutions and systems of governance, identity, and technology.

The worlds' oceans have been extremely important in the development and interaction of societies throughout history. This unique book uses the tools of political geography and international relations to examine the ways in which nations and peoples have viewed and used the oceans. Most social scientists have looked on the seas as a resource, but Steinberg sees them as a space defined by society, arguing that political and economic forces have shaped the governance and representation of the sea as much as they have the land.

As climate change makes the Arctic a region of key political interest, so questions of sovereignty are once more drawing international attention.