Project description
Comparing Australian and Italian approaches to maritime rescue
The Central Mediterranean crossing is the deadliest migrant route worldwide. Between 2013 and 2019, seaborne migration from Libya to Italy caused more than 15 000 casualties. However, the search and rescue operations conducted in order to mitigate the loss of life at sea have been criticised as a hindrance to effective control. Australia and Italy face mixed migratory flows of both migrants and refugees, but developed different policy responses to irregular maritime mobility. The EU-funded MARESIA project conceptualises maritime rescue as an international norm and investigates the impact of norm contestation processes in shaping varying maritime border control policies. To that end, the project systematically compares how the Italian and Australian governments and public have interpreted and internalised the moral and legal obligation to rescue those in distress at sea between 1990 and 2020.
Objective
Between 2013 and August 2019, seaborne migration caused over 15,000 casualties in the Southern Mediterranean alone. While crucial to save lives, maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) operations have been increasingly criticized as a hindrance to effective border control. Despite being signatories to all relevant international conventions and facing mixed migratory flows comprising of both economic migrants and refugees, Australia and Italy have developed different (although eventually converging) approaches to seaborne migration. Not only governments, but also different seafaring organizations have understood the duty to rescue in different ways. What explains variations in rescue policies across countries, over time, and between maritime actors?
Drawing on constructivist international relations scholarship, this project conceptualizes maritime rescue as a contested international norm, investigating the role of norm contestation processes in informing varying interpretations of the duty to rescue. To this end, I will conduct a structured-focused comparison of maritime rescue offshore Australia and Italy between 1990 and 2020. Specifically, the project consists in two interrelated tasks. First, I will systematically compare how the Italian and Australian governments and publics have understood the moral and legal obligation to conduct SAR. Second, I will examine public and private organizations’ internalization of the rescue norm by examining the discourses and behaviour of navies, border and coast guards, shipping companies, and NGOs operating in Australia and Italy’s maritime regions. In previous years, I conducted fieldwork aboard NGO ships and published extensively on SAR in the Mediterranean. By funding the first comparative, book-lengthy study of the maritime rescue norm and its ongoing contestation, a Marie Curie Global Fellowship would be crucial for my career development, allowing me to become a leading scholar of maritime security and international norms.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences political sciences political policies civil society civil society organisations nongovernmental organizations
- social sciences sociology demography human migrations
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
30123 Venezia
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.