Introduction: The New Scramble for the Pacific: A Frontier Approach

Over the last decades, the Pacific Ocean has been the locus of an unequalled rush for space and resources involving intertwined public and corporate interests, external powers, and Pacific Island states and territories. This rush is driven by three intersecting motivations aiming to: (1) exploit marine resources; (2) protect marine biodiversity and mitigate the effects of climate change; and (3) establish sovereignties over marine spaces. In this context, the fluidity of saltwater environments gives rise to specific issues of enforcement, control, and governance. This special issue examines these reconfigurations of/in the Pacific Ocean, stressing potentially conflicting frontier processes, in the light of a structuring tension between trends of ocean grabbing and ocean commoning.

导言：太平洋新争夺战：一种边疆学方法

关键词：南太平洋；大洋洲热；边疆；海洋掠夺；海洋公地化。

近几十年来，太平洋成为前所未有的空间和资源争抢的热点， 涉足其中的有密切关联的公共和企业利益、外国列强以及太平洋岛国和地区。这股热潮受三种互相交叉的动机所驱动，意图分别是：1）开采海洋资源；2）保护海洋生物多样性，减轻气候变化的影响；3）对海洋空间建立主权。 在此背景之下，咸水环境的流动性带来了执行、控制和治理中的特定问题。 本期特刊考察了太平洋地区的这些重新建构，并且基于海洋掠夺和海洋公地化这些潮流之间的结构性紧张， 突出强调了具有潜在冲突性的边疆化过程。

Translated from English by Li Guo