A transformative blue economy? Discourse, hegemony and passive revolution in the Pacific

Abstract

Spurred by the advocacy of ocean-reliant communities, the blue economy has emerged as a charismatic vision for sustainable ocean development over the last fifteen years. Central to its charm rests a promise to transform human interactions with the ocean wherein extractive, inequitable and polluting ocean practices are transitioned-out in favour of activities that advance ecological sustainability, social justice and economic efficiency. A "paradigm shift," to echo the World Bank and United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, from business-as-usual with an underlying commitment to systemic change.

Reflecting on the blue economy encounters of Pacific ocean development actors, this thesis interrogates the political function of this widely-referenced ocean development vision. I raise the provocation: does the blue economy work to support a transformative approach to ocean development, and if not, what is it doing? Three key case studies provide the empirical base of this research: Pacific regional organisations interfacing with ocean issues, the Cook Islands Government with regards to seabed minerals activities and the grassroots non-government actor, the Locally-Managed Marine Area Network. I engage argumentative discourse analysis to examine both the public performance (document analysis) and private perceptions (key stakeholder interviews) of case study actors. These distinct cases provide insight into the varied strategies Pacific actors engage to (re)negotiate the sustainable ocean visions set out under the blue economy, and the complex political calculations that shape these interactions.

This doctoral research indicates that far from transforming humanity's relationships with the ocean, the blue economy has provided a powerful political tool for defending, reproducing and extending neoliberal capitalism across maritime spaces and communities. Contrary to its transformative promise, it is a conservative discourse that enables neoliberal capitalism to perform commitments of change in the face of deepening societal unease; acting to restore consent in neoliberal capitalism's social authority and reassemble it anew for legitimacy in evolving contexts. In this way, the blue economy appears to function in service of passive revolution, which I (re)frame as a process of revolution-recursion as consistent with the work of Antonio Gramsci detailed in Prison Notebooks. While grounded in the Pacific, this thesis contributes to a larger conversation about the role discourse plays processes of political change; specifically, the impact promises of transformation can have in (re)ordering social relations at moments of rupture.

An equally important finding of my research is the agency of Pacific actors to unsettle the blue economy, be that through direct critique, creative reworking or careful discursive bounding. Rarely have mainstream visions of the blue economy been adopted wholesale, nor endorsed unconditionally. I observe how the politicisation of blue economy understandings and articulations has enabled Pacific ocean development actors to resist external development (and environmentalist) logics. This has not always resulted in a rejection of the blue economy, but such discursive play has provided an avenue for dissent. 'Holding the political' is a key strategy for refusing the absorption of discourses promising transformation into processes of passive revolution, and an important insight I take from this doctoral project. Show more