8 - New International Orders

Summary

The tumultuous early years of the 1973–1982 conference placed enormous strains on both the developing countries and the maritime powers. The ‘group of seventy-seven’ managed to secure recognition of the 200-mile exclusive economic zone and a consent regime for marine scientific research. But the divisions within the group, along with the pressures exerted on it by the powers, meant that they achieved less than they had originally hoped for, with the coastal states losing out to the powers over military activities in the exclusive economic zone, and the landlocked and geographically disadvantaged states losing out to the coastal states over guaranteed access to fishing surpluses. By contrast, the powers’ ‘group of five’ made a strong start to the conference, securing their navigational interests in the territorial sea, then in straits, and then in archipelagos and the exclusive economic zone. Consensus worked in their favour, allowing them, as a minority, to prevail over the majority. But having secured their initial objectives, their incentive to continue cooperating with each other would be weakened as they entered the final stretch of the conference.