Quantitative Content Analysis of the United Nations Seabed Debates: Methodology and a Continental Shelf Case Study

摘要

Since 1967, when Ambassador Arvid Pardo of Malta drew the attention of the General Assembly to the inadequacy of international arrangements for the uses of the ocean, this inadequacy has been a subject of discussion and sometimes intense debate within the United Nations. These debates have included the question of how to delimit the outer edge of the legal continental shelf, the spectrum of ocean arms control possibilities, proposals to create a declaration of principles governing the exploration for and the exploitation of seabed minerals resources. The U. N. seabed debates are the most comprehensive single body of data available on the attitude of states on the problems of managing the uses of the ocean. (Author)