This path-breaking collection opens up the conversation about the sea and International Relations and probes the value of analysing the sea in terms of International Relations.

While the world's oceans cover more than seventy percent of its surface, the sea has largely vanished as an object of enquiry in IR, being treated either as a corollary of land or as time. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights from IR, Historical Sociology, Blue Humanities and Critical Ocean Studies, The sea and International Relations breaks with this trend of oceanic amnesia, and kickstarts a theoretical, conceptual and empirical discussion about the sea and IR, offering novel takes on the spatiality of world politics by highlighting theoretical puzzles, analysing broad historical perspectives and addressing contemporary challenges.