Geopolitics of the seas: a comparison of scientific articles in Brazil and around the world since the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (CNUDM)

Abstract

The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) transformed the way States view their relations with oceanic spaces. This article compares Brazilian and international works on the role of these spaces in geopolitics since the UNCLOS. To achieve this, this research conducted a scoping review across the Scopus, Scielo, Latindex databases, as well as the collection of two military journals. It compared the main conceptual bases used, author origins, primary publication periods, and geographic focus of concern, in both pre- and post-UNCLOS periods. Among Brazilian and international articles, there is convergence in the use of Mahan’s concept of Sea Power; as a divergence, the Brazilian case shows a concentration of military authors, with publications primarily between 1980-2010 and a focus on the South Atlantic; while international production is dominated by civilian authors, with publications mainly between 2010-2020 and a wider variety of oceanic spaces.