Suchergebnisse

Vasco da Gama's name has figured in all history books, whether they relate to World, European,1 Asian or Indian history,2 as a great sailor and adventurer. He has been solely credited with the honour of having discovered the sea-route from Europe to India via the Cape of Good Hope. At the same time, the name of another great sailor—Ibn Majid—who actually piloted Vasco da Gama's ship from Malindi on the east coast of Africa to Calicut in India, has been ignored. His name has gone unnoticed due to several reasons. In the first place there is a general lack of information about his career and achievements. Secondly, the euro-centric approach sees all progress in history, science and art from the high pedestal built by the European scholars for Western civilization.3 And lastly, the Arab historians held back the true facts about Ibn Majid being the pilot of Vasco da Gama's ship. This article attempts to piece together the evidence collected from various sources in Europe, Africa and India.

Master's thesis in Risk Management and Societal Safety ; The Northern Sea Route is an area that is prone to wicked problems. Wicked problems are problems that are not predefined, nor do they have a single solution. They are problems that exist due to the opinions and wants of the stakeholders in the problem complex. The first part of Future Risk Scenarios of the Northern Sea Route revolves around operationalizing wicked problems into something analysable. As the problems are subjective, they are non-quantifiable, non-linear, non-delineated problems. One can therefore not use ontic quantities to reduce their epistemic uncertainty. In contrast one can use discrete models that reduce epistemic uncertainty in other ways models such as the general morphological analysis approach. Following this methodology, the thesis constructs a conceptual space containing the main dimensions that influence the Northern Sea Route, and the corresponding conditions it can take on. Through the process of cross-assessment of the criterion of whether different dimensions' conditions can coexist. The criterion of pairwise coexistence is constrained by logical, empirical, and normative assessments. Which leaves an interactive inference model in which one can investigate scenarios and scenario clusters that can realistically occur. By using this interactive inference model, the thesis identifies East/West Relations, Global Environmental Politics, and Technical and Navigational Requirements as the most pivotal dimensions for the formation of sates of affairs. The interplay between the connections in these parameters clearly forms distinct opposing scenario clusters for possible futures. The following discussion therefore delves into how the empirics of these dimensions and contends why they exclude or include specific scenario clusters. Concluding that East/West Relations determine the stability of the Northern Sea Route for stakeholders, whilst Technical and Navigational Requirements and Global Environmental Politics include and exclude stakeholders on a basis of sociotechnical and local environmental safety concerns. Effectively identifying relations, technology, and environmental politics as the strategic areas to target to shape the future of the Northern Sea Route.

In 2011, the growing number of pirate attacks prompted several flag states to authorise the use of armed guards aboard vessels. Despite facing the same threat, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Italy have adopted three distinct approaches to securing their merchant ships, ranging from the exclusive use of private security companies (PSCs) to the employment of military personnel only. This article conducts a congruence testing of the main theoretical explanations for the use of PSCs on land against UK, Dutch and Italian vessel protection policies. By relying on sequencing as a technique for theoretical synthesis, we develop a multicausal explanation of states' vessel protection arrangements, showing the varying influence of functionalist, ideational, organisational and political drivers of security privatisation at different phases of the policy process.

In this article the author considers the issue of exploitation of Arctic region, especially of NSR. This transport corridor is very important from geopolitical point of view. The future of NSR will be thoroughly considered and the author will pay attention to the political horizons that opens as far as the interest of international community to Arctic rises and socio-economical processes are accelerating. The political institutions which regulate exploitation of NSR, legal framework, estimations of experts from different relevant fields and the problems of exploitation of Arctic region that have emerged on grounds of the current political situation in the world - all these aspects will be considered in the article. The special attention will be paid to the possible Russian self-determined exploitation of Arctic and NSR. Even though there are considerable reserves of natural resources in Arctic, its' capacity does not afford carry out its' active exploitation in short-term. Consequently, its' capacity does not permit exclusion of exploitation of NSR on account of transit route. Saving of the current relations with Western partners and development of opportunities to exploit Arctic region on our own - the main political goals of Russia. Recent events of this year demonstrate two important forces which have an impact on the exploitation of NSR. Firstly, an important role of Russia in international exploitation of Arctic, understanding of that at the international level and interest of foreign partners in cooperation with Russia in Arctic including over the question of NSR despite exacerbation of relation with the West. Secondly, present state of Arctic territories in terms of economics and socio-political aspect does not correspond to the boost of geopolitical power of Russia in Arctic. Western sanctions seriously harm sustainable development of Arctic in short-term. However, they will accelerate political processes in the region in case Russia wants exploit Arctic and take the lead among Arctic states. There is a necessity to overcome the technological and economical lag from the West, to create better infrastructure along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, to attract human resources in High North, to increase the government support of business in Arctic.

This book explains vessels' ability to overcome ice on the Northern Sea Route, as well as the criteria of safe speed and maneuvering of vessels on ice. It provides a successful long-term forecast of ice navigation and reveals the dangers of sailing on the Northern Sea Route, It includes tips on how to plan and schedule voyages in the Russian Arctic. The book develops a set of suggested routes for the period of opening and closing of the transit ice-free zone through the NSR based on the last eleven navigation seasons. It presents a method for determining the date for beginning a voyage of a vessel without ice strengthening through the NSR. It also develops a model of initial (long-term) and operational decision-making support system for vessel voyage planning and scheduling. The main audience for the book are officers at operational and management level of competency, people planning voyages on the Northern Sea Route in the office of ship operator and in chartering department or consulting company, and participants of Ice Navigator IMO Model Courses at basic and advanced level of competency.