The big idea: The oceans are a global commons, but states still claim sovereignty over the sea near their coast. The rules come from UNCLOS (the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea).
From the coast, a state controls its territorial sea (12 nautical miles) and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) out to 200 nautical miles, where it owns the resources — fish, oil, gas and minerals.
Geopolitics is competition between states for power and resources. Where EEZs overlap or where the sea is rich or strategic, that competition becomes resource conflict.
Key terms
- Sovereignty — a state's legal right to control its own territory, including the sea near its coast.
- UNCLOS — the UN treaty that sets out maritime zones and the rights states have in each.
- Territorial sea — the belt of sea up to 12 nautical miles out, where the state has near-full control.
- Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) — out to 200 nautical miles: the state owns the resources (fish, oil, gas, minerals).
- Abiotic resources — non-living ocean resources: oil, gas and seabed minerals (the focus of resource conflict).
- Chokepoint — a narrow strait that a large share of world shipping must pass through (e.g. Hormuz, Malacca).
Why the sea is contested: States compete over the ocean for three reasons: resources (fish, oil, gas, minerals in the EEZ), strategic routes (control of trade chokepoints), and sovereignty (overlapping or unclear claims to islands and seabed).
The more an area has of these, the more disputed it becomes.
How this is tested: Paper 1 Option B opens with a data-response on a map of shipping or oil flows, then short structured parts. You State or Identify a value off a flow map (a chokepoint's daily oil throughput, the busiest strait) and Explain the rights a state has in its EEZ. Always quote the units and name the feature.
| Zone | Limit from coast | What the state controls |
|---|---|---|
| Territorial sea | 12 nautical miles | Near-full sovereignty — its own laws, ships and airspace |
| Contiguous zone | 24 nautical miles | Customs, immigration and pollution enforcement |
| Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) | 200 nautical miles | All resources: fishing, oil, gas and seabed minerals |
| Continental shelf | up to ~350 nautical miles | Seabed and sub-soil resources (oil, gas, minerals) |
| High seas | beyond the EEZ | No state owns it — a shared global commons |
| Chokepoint | Oil throughput (million barrels/day) | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Strait of Hormuz | 21 | The world's busiest oil chokepoint — Gulf exports |
| Strait of Malacca | 15 | Links Middle East oil to East Asian markets |
| Suez Canal + SUMED | 9 | Connects the Gulf and Europe |
| Bab el-Mandeb | 6 | Red Sea entry to the Suez route |
| Turkish Straits | 3 | Black Sea oil to the Mediterranean |
Reading a flow map: On a flow map, State = read the exact figure for a named feature off the key; Identify = name the feature with the largest flow. Find the chokepoint, read its value, and quote the units (million barrels/day).
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Conflict flares where EEZs overlap or where ownership of islands and seabed is unclear, because whoever owns the islands owns the resource-rich sea around them. Rising demand for abiotic resources (oil, gas, minerals) and for control of trade chokepoints sharpens these disputes.
South China Sea (overlapping claims): China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and others claim parts of the South China Sea and its tiny Spratly and Paracel islands.
Why it is contested: the islands sit inside several states' would-be EEZs, the seabed is thought to hold oil and gas, the fishing is rich, and roughly a third of world shipping passes through. China has built artificial islands to assert control, and an international tribunal ruling against its claim was rejected — so the dispute remains unresolved.
Arctic Ocean (a melting frontier): As sea ice retreats, Russia, Canada, the USA, Norway and Denmark are racing to claim the Arctic seabed, which may hold large oil, gas and mineral reserves and new shipping lanes.
Why it is contested: states submit rival continental-shelf claims to extend their seabed rights; Russia even planted a flag on the seabed at the North Pole. It is governed peacefully so far through the Arctic Council and UNCLOS, but rising resource value raises the stakes.
Strait of Hormuz (a strategic chokepoint): About 21 million barrels of oil a day pass through the narrow Strait of Hormuz.
Why it is contested: because so much trade depends on it, threats to close or disrupt it are used as political leverage, and naval tension there can send the global oil price soaring — a clear example of the sea's strategic value driving conflict.
How this is tested — the [10] essay: Paper 1 Option B ends with a 10-mark essay, marked on markbands. The big AO3 verbs here are To what extent, Examine and Evaluate — all signal a markband essay.
Recurring versions: how far ocean disputes can be resolved, why managing ocean conflict is difficult, how abiotic-resource demand drives conflict, and how effective pollution strategies are.
Top band needs: accurate terms (EEZ, UNCLOS, sovereignty), named case studies (South China Sea, Arctic, Hormuz), a balanced two-sided argument, and a justified conclusion.
Keep abiotic in focus: If the question is about abiotic resources (oil, gas, minerals), keep those at the centre — drifting into fishing (a biotic resource) caps the mark. Use the South China Sea or Arctic seabed, not a cod war.