Analysis Of International Marine Discourse Power Competition In The Process Of Forming The United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea

The concept of International Marine Discourse Power comes from Michel Foucault’s theory of "discourse power",which is used on the international ocean issues.The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,（hereinafter referred to as the "UNCLOS"）,recognized by the international community as the "Marine Charter",has developed into a set of strictly binding institutional arrangements and rules to regulate the current international maritime order.However,the conclusion of this treaty didn’t go well without obstacle because of the interaction between global powers like nation-states.The bargaining game among different international actors constantly influences not only each other,but also the preferences and decisions during the setting process of the marine legal order.In general,since the new sea order is largely based on the "UNCLOS",by studying the process of the international marine discourse power competition during the conclusion of the treaty,we can effectively explore the impact of the current international society over the sea,as well as the key to enhance one country’s maritime discourse power.This paper is focusing on one key question:what various actors would do,when they are facing the competitive situation over the international marine discourse power.To solve that,first should analyze the interactive competition process among countries,deeply explore the characteristics of the whole process over the international marine discourse power,then does a prospect over the discourse power bargain game on the post-UNCLOS time.Specifically,the article can be divided into two parts.Firstly,based on Foucault’s theory of discourse power,the core research concept of international marine discourse power is theoretically defined from the two aspects of basic connotation and conceptual characteristics.Secondly,through the review of the history of the discourse power competition between UK and USA before the Convention,which would provide historical legitimacy for the core concepts,thus completing the theoretical framework,the first part of the paper.The second part pays attention to the competition process of the conclusion of the Convention.Analyzes the whole competition process from two different perspectives:,discourse game during the conclusion" and "contradictory interaction during the conclusion".The third chapter is more from the national perspective,focusing on the performance of major countries（groups）in the three conferences;the fourth chapter captures the two sets of contradictory relationships during the period,"the US-Soviet hegemony","the conflict of developing-developed countries",and this chapter would go from a more holistic perspective.From all that,it summarizes the characteristics of the competition for the international marine discourse power during the period,then looks forward to the competitive situation in the post-Convention era.Judging from the performance of the period,the whole competition process shows out a low direct conflict confrontation and high discourse game confrontation,and the ways of discourse game also become more divergent.It also shows that the developing countries gradually moved from the edge of competition to the center,which eventually has become a huge force in promoting the conclusion of the Convention.Due to the unique international situation of that time,the entire process was driven by two sets of structural contradictions.One was the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for hegemony in the context of the Cold War,and the relationship between them established the trend throughout the process.The second is the offensive and defensive confrontation between developing countries and developed countries formed under the background of the Asian,African and Latin American national liberation movements.In the early stage of the conclusion,the developed countries acted strong,but later,the developing countries gradually grasped the initiative over the discourse game.Through research,it is found that during the 24 years of the Convention,all countries considered their own actual development and used various diplomatic means to compete for their international marine discourse power,which aims to lead the maritime order to be more benefit to their own development.The entire process of concluding the Convention was the first time in history that there was no war during the whole time,and it was also the first time that developing countries appeared as a central role in the interaction of international marine discourse power game.Different from the history before,the weights of factors affecting the competition have changed after the Convention.The military warfare has decreased,and the economy and trade have increased.Speaking of the competition mode,the confrontation of direct conflict has decreased,and the confrontation of discourse game has increased.This requires that in the new era,countries must clarify the characteristics of competition,adjust the direction,and create new focus when constituting the international discourse power.In general,this paper makes comprehensive use of political science and international relations theory and constructs a new and complete theoretical framework to study historical issues by organically combining the theoretical analysis method with the case studying method together.The conclusions of the study go beyond the previous inherent cognition of "sea power is the naval power" in maritime politics.While enriching the current theory of discourse power,it also provides new ideas for the research on other types of power interaction.