2024/09/01 by Scott Edwards, John Bradford · 1 voice
Environmental Science · Social Sciences · #Anthropological Studies and Insights #Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies #Island Studies and Pacific Affairs
paper · doi:10.1080/19480881.2025.2585236
openalex publication_date 2024/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/11/17 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/03
This paper analyses the engagement of the coast guards of the Quad. It argues that increasing engagement – represented by growing joint training, operations, and exchanges – is representative of an ever-pervasive mode of networked governance underpinned by practice transfer that we conceptualize as an informal form of policy transfer. This paper argues that a focus on the various activities being undertaken cooperatively by coast guards constitutes an important dimension of informal maritime security governance in the region, providing peace, prosperity, and opportunity. The paper makes three contributions. First, it focuses on relatively understudied Coast Guards and demonstrates the important international roles they are playing in the collective maritime governance of the Indo-Pacific at a time when they are being formally recognized by the Quad. Second, it demonstrates that regional maritime security governance is increasingly ordered by flexible informal cooperation between these actors, who transfer practices catalyzed by the shared regional focus. Finally, it contributes to the literature on policy transfer and informal governance by combining it with a networked approach to demonstrate how informal networks are fostered, maintained, and utilized.