Primacy of the state in global integration: Successful strategies for gaining state support for global maritime security integration

The difficulty in suppressing Somali pirate attacks is exemplified by joint operations between the Combined Task Force 151, NATO, and the European Naval Force. They continue to respond slowly to pirate attacks because of communication failures, while mission successes are thwarted by national legal incongruities impairing the ability of the task forces to prosecute and punish perpetrators when they are detained. Thus, at the global level, state cooperation reveals the collective will to contain piracy, but not the capacity in view of an absence of integrated processes. This suggests the problem lies in the interrelationships at the global-state interface.

This paper explores this interface by theorizing the global-state relationship apropos the development of global maritime security networks. It uses two case studies to lay out state-level strategic responses by global networks to integrate state navies in pursuit of global security objectives. As a result, the main findings of this paper indicate that discourse in global security between Rationalist and Internationalist perspectives is dealt with through the global-state nexus, thereby affecting the way global maritime integration is developed. Specifically, this interrelationship empowers the state, since global security integration is contingent on the ability of global networks to appeal to state-centric ambitions.