DIRECT ENFORCEMENT ON THE HIGH SEAS: THE STRATEGY OF THE SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics and International Studies Teale Nevada Phelps Bondaroff Clare College University of Cambridge November 2013 SUMMARY This study examines the anti-whaling strategy of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS). Despite being relatively small and resource poor, this confrontational marine conservation organization has been successful in frustrating Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean through the use of what it describes as ‘aggressive non-violent direct action.’ Adopting an inductive approach, the study uses participant observation and process tracing in order to uncover those mechanisms which make the SSCS strategy effective. In understanding this strategy, which is unlike any other described in the transnational environmental activism literature, the study seeks to add to our understanding of the role and power of non-state actors in international affairs. A close examination reveals that the organization is engaging in a strategy which can be described as ‘direct enforcement’ (DE) – whereby it seeks to enforce existing marine conservation laws. The SSCS supports its claims as an enforcement organization through the use of legal language, symbols and imagery. It also selects targets which can be accused of violating the law, and gathers evidence to support these accusations. Once it has identified such a target, the SSCS interferes with the operations and attempts to prevent illegal and environmentally harmful activities, and to directly increase the target’s costs of operation. This study explores some of the mechanisms upon which DE relies. Aggressive intervention exposes activists to potential retaliation from targets and states. Several mechanisms reduce potential retaliation. First, activists are protected by the principle of unclean hands: targets do not wish to draw attention to their own wrongdoings by indicting activists. Second, activists surround themselves and their actions in a complex web of international laws, which tends to deter state prosecution, because states generally wish to avoid complications or potentially embarrassing international incidents. By actively enforcing laws where states lack capacity and/or political will to do so, DE enhances the compliance pull of international laws. Through the use of DE, activists also exert powerful legal leverage against states. Eschewing traditional activist approaches such as the ‘mobilization of shame,’ DE not only criticizes states for their failure to live up to their international obligations and commitments, but supports these claims with confrontational actions which cannot be ignored. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS – SUMMARY SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS – SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS – DETAILED ................................................................................................ 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PREFACE ............................................................................................. 8 LIST OF ABREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS USED .......................................................................... 10 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2 – CONVENTIONAL INGO/TAG STRATEGIES........................................................... 34 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................. 62 CHAPTER 4 – HISTORY OF WHALING AND THE ANTI-WHALING CAMPAIGN ............................ 83 CHAPTER 5 – OBSERVATIONS OF SSCS OPERATIONS .............................................................. 105 CHAPTER 6 – UNCONVENTIONAL STRATEGIES IN IR – DIRECT ACTION ................................. 158 CHAPTER 7 – DIRECT ENFORCEMENT ....................................................................................... 170 CHAPTER 8 – ISSUE SELECTION AND DIRECT ENFORCEMENT IN OTHER CAMPAIGNS ........... 186 CHAPTER 9 – CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 198 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................... 205 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................ 225 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS – DETAILED SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................................... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS – SUMMARY ................................................................................................ 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS – DETAILED ................................................................................................ 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND PREFACE ............................................................................................. 8 LIST OF ABREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS USED .......................................................................... 10 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ 13 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 14 1.1 - Action in the Southern Ocean ..................................................................................... 14 1.2 - The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society .................................................................... 14 1.3 - Non-State Actors in International Relations ............................................................... 16 1.4 - The Puzzle of the SSCS .............................................................................................. 18 1.5 - Review of Sea Shepherd Literature............................................................................. 21 1.5.1 - Academic Sources ......................................................................................... 21 1.5.2 - Primary Sources ............................................................................................. 27 1.5.3 - Media Sources ............................................................................................... 29 1.6 - Clarification of Terms ................................................................................................. 29 1.7 - Outline of Study .......................................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 2 – CONVENTIONAL INGO/TAG STRATEGIES........................................................... 34 2.1 - NGOs and TAGs Defined ........................................................................................... 34 2.1.1 - Transnational Civil Society and NGOs ......................................................... 34 2.1.2 - TAGs and TANs Defined .............................................................................. 35 2.2 - The Expansion of INGOs and TAGs in International Relations................................. 37 2.2.1 - Growing Role of NSAs in IR ........................................................................ 37 2.2.2 - Determining Relevance and Measuring Influence ........................................ 38 2.2.3 - INGO and TAG Legitimacy .......................................................................... 41 2.2.4 - Why Go Transnational? ................................................................................. 42 2.3 - INGO and TAG Strategy ............................................................................................ 44 2.3.1 - Insider-Outsider Politics and Venue Shopping ............................................. 46 2.3.2 - Typologies of Action ..................................................................................... 48 2.3.2.1 - Information Politics ......................................................................... 49 2.3.2.2 - Symbolic Politics ............................................................................. 50 2.3.2.3 - Leverage Politics .............................................................................. 53 2.3.2.4 - Accountability Politics ..................................................................... 55 2.4 - Issue Selection ............................................................................................................. 57 2.5 - Sea Shepherd’s Challenge to the INGO/TAG Literature ............................................ 60 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................. 62 3.1 - The Case Study ........................................................................................................... 62 3.1.1 - Case Selection................................................................................................ 62 4 3.1.2 - Single Case Study .......................................................................................... 64 3.2 - Discerning SSCS Strategy..........................................................................................