Global commons: Between cooperation and competition

Rapid economic development and increasing international trade are leading to a more crowded international stage and raising new challenges in the ‘global commons’ – those domains that are not under the control or jurisdiction of any state but are open for use by countries, companies and individuals from around the world. Security analysts generally identify four domains as global commons: high seas, airspace, outer space and, now, cyberspace. From a security perspective, the primary concern is safeguarding ‘access’ to these domains for commercial and military reasons.

The EU is uniquely positioned to play an important role in giving value to existing multilateral frameworks and in developing new ones for international cooperation in these domains but, with a multitude of competing interests among stakeholders, much work remains to be done.