Mezza-Garcia, Nathalie (2020) Complex governance and SeaZones: the Floating Island Project in French Polynesia. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing body of work in the field of complex governance, which assumes that socio-political systems are nested, self-organised, emergent and non-linear. However, there has been a void in the complex governance field for looking at alternative forms of governance to nation-states, political parties, representative democracy and policy, such as Special Economic Zones, seasteads and their synthesised form, SeaZones. This thesis addresses this gap in the scholarship by taking a complex systems perspective to examine the creation, regulatory framework, governance, stakeholders and demise of a particular case study, namely the Floating Island Project in French Polynesia. Using participatory observation and document analysis, the thesis explores the attempt to take what was the world’s first SeaZone from design to implementation. The thesis identifies various legal, institutional, political, social, cultural, economic, historic and environmental issues relating to the Floating Island that are encountered when trying to set up an alternative form of governance and a floating island. It argues that the Floating Island Project exhibited three key features of complex governance: first, it was structured as a nested system; Second, it concerned stakeholders in multiple levels, including local and global; Third, it was pervaded by waves of cross-temporal and cross-spatial events. In doing so, this study contributes to and extends the scholarship on complex governance in general and floating Special Economic Zones, SeaZones, specifically, by examining, from a complex systems perspective, the possibilities, limitations, and challenges of setting up special jurisdictions with emerging and alternative and forms of governance with legal, spatial and digital extraterritoriality.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HX Socialism. Communism. Anarchism J Political Science > JC Political theory J Political Science > JS Local government Municipal government J Political Science > JV Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration. International migration K Law [LC] > K Law (General)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Economic zones (Law of the sea) -- Pacific Area, Floating buildings, Floating islands, Complex organizations, Economic zoning -- Government policy, Economic zoning -- Law and legislation
Official Date:	10 November 2020
Dates:	Date Event 10 November 2020 Accepted January 2020 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Uprichard, Emma ; Tkacz, Nathaniel
Sponsors:	CEIBA. Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios Básicos y Aplicados
Description:	This thesis is useful for everyone working on creating Special Economic Zones and / or communities on the water. It focuses on the first attempt to make a floating Special Economic Zone entitled Floating Island Project in French Polynesia. The thesis discusses the nested regulatory frameworks of the project, and the complex hierarchies of local, national and international rules the project had to follow or create exceptions to. It discusses the multiple levels of stakeholders that were involved or touched by the project, from potential residents interested in cryptocurrencies to the local community. Lastly, the thesis explains how the project's complexity affected its creation and the hiccups that played a role in the project's end. The thesis does a very good explanation of the shaping of the project from design to implementation. It is a useful resource by a complex governance scientist scholar for how to do and not create a Special Economic Zone.
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xii, 327 leaves : illustration
Language:	eng

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