Troubled Waters. Cod War, Fishing Disputes, and Britain's Fight for the Freedom of the High Seas, 1948-1964
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The thesis describes Britain's disputes over fishery limits and territorial waters, 1948-
64. Norway, Iceland, the Soviet Union and Denmark (on behalf of Greenland and the
Faroe Islands) extended national jurisdiction on the oceans. Britain protested against
every move, even despatching the Royal Navy to the disputed waters off Iceland, the
main antagonist. Yet, on every occasion Britain had to admit defeat. In analytical terms,
the thesis is partly a case study on foreign policy decision-making, the nature of power
in international relations, and the relative decline of Britain after the Second World
War. It also sets the quarrels over territorial waters in the context of the Cold War.
The central conclusion is that Britain was too slow to recognise changes in the
composition of power in international relations after the Second World War. British
policy-makers overestimated their capability to enforce on other states their
interpretation of the law of the sea. Their miscalculations were influenced by five
considerations: power (the existence of stronger naval forces than the Nordic
opponents), pressure (from the British trawling industry), precedence (the danger that
retreat in one place would weaken the British stand elsewhere), principle (adherence to
international law as it had been developing when Britain was a stronger power), and
prestige (the belief that Britain was still strong enough to have her way on the high
seas). Furthen-nore, departmental differences in Whitehall often slowed down the
process of decision-making and ensured that the views of those officials who best
realised the actual extent of British capabilities did not prevail. And finally, the
frustrating obstinacy of a newly independent nation like Iceland contributed to the
conflicts.
The thesis is based on primary sources from public and private archives in
Britain, Iceland, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Norway, the United States and
Russia. Numerous interviews were also conducted.
Authors
Johannesson, Gudni ThorlaciusCollections
- Theses [3706]