Disputed Waters, Contested Norms: Framing Discourses on the South China Sea Disputes

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea (SCS) have recently attracted serious attention from policy makers and scholars alike, raising important questions about the role of international law. The four volumes reviewed here bring a range of existing and new perspectives to bear upon the debates surrounding tensions in the SCS. First, Power Politics in Asia's Contested Waters mostly focuses on state actors and their interactions regarding the SCS disputes. Second, Major Law and Policy Issues in the South China Sea and, third, UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the South China Sea go beyond the state level of analysis and bring international legal regimes and rules to our attention, and relate them to states' practices. Last, The South China Sea Maritime Dispute seeks to combine various levels of analysis in order to situate the SCS disputes within the political, legal, and regional dynamics. The various contributors further extend their research by suggesting practical solutions, including promoting regional common heritage, the Spitsbergen model, and the shared sovereignty model. The books under review are not only highly pertinent to the current debate on the SCS disputes, but also suggest multiple levels and frames of analysis, as well as proposing some innovative solutions to this thorny problem.