Overview

Ethics and Social Licence in the Blue Economy squarely confronts the vexing and urgent ethical challenges related to the economic and development potential of the seas. A work of applied moral philosophy, incorporating interdisciplinary elements in law, governance and social science, it provides a multifaceted philosophical interrogation of social licence, explaining its complex relationship to concepts like legitimacy, social contract and legal licence. From this basis, it interrogates the ethics of the Blue Economy, exploring the key moral principles at stake, and how they play out in the unique context of marine industries, ocean ecologies, and coastal communities. This book delves deeply into how the world’s oceans are increasingly seen as an untapped resource, with great promises of commercial development delivering profound goods to humanity. Yet this economic growth raises serious ethical questions. It partitions off resources that are currently open for all, threatens precious ecosystems, and impacts wildlife. The aspirational idea of the ‘Blue Economy’ aims to capture the ocean’s economic development potential, but also the need for that development to be done sustainably, equitably and legitimately. This need for legitimacy highlights the growing ethical importance of community acceptance and the ‘social licence to operate’. Yet social licence is itself an emerging and contested concept, giving rise to its own vexing ethical concerns. This book also offers a deep-dive into the many challenges posed and promises offered by expanding marine development. This book will be of great interest to scholars from a range of governance disciplines (ethics and philosophy, law, policy, governance studies, social sciences) as well as those researching in the marine management, governance and policy space.

Full Product Details

Author:   Hugh Breakey (Griffith University, Australia) ,  Charles Sampford (Griffith University, Australia)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
ISBN:  

9781032972053

ISBN 10:   103297205
Pages:   200
Publication Date:   09 February 2026
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming
Availability:   Not yet available  
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Table of Contents

Part 1: The Social Licence to Operate Introduction: Ethics and Social Licence in the Blue Economy Hugh Breakey, Charles Sampford Chapter 1: Understanding and ethically analysing the Social Licence to Operate Hugh Breakey, Charles Sampford and Graham Wood Chapter 2: Social Licence and Legal Licence: Analysing the analogy Charles Sampford and Melea Lewis Chapter 3: What (if anything) can the concept of ‘freedom’ teach us about SLO? Graham Wood Chapter 4: Four Types of Social Licence to Operate: The ethical and operational risks of Authentic, Deceptive, Default and Tick-Box SLO approaches Hugh Breakey, Graham Wood, Larelle Bossi and Charles Sampford Chapter 5: Moving beyond the Social Licence to Operate: Locating Cultural Licence to Operate within Country Larelle Bossi and Fiona Hamilton Part 2: SLO and ethics in the Blue Economy Chapter 6: Ethical values and SLO in the Blue Economy Hugh Breakey, Rebecca Marshallsay, Larelle Bossi, Charles Sampford and Katja Cooper Chapter 7: Ethical risk in the Blue Economy Integrity System Hugh Breakey and Charles Sampford Chapter 8: Shifting our current marine governance paradigm through ocean ethics and the development of ocean cultures Larelle Bossi Chapter 9: Not just for and against: Engaging with the ethical complexity of stakeholders’ attitudes to offshore wind developments Hugh Breakey, Larelle Bossi, Charles Sampford, Michael Mehmet, Jennifer Algie, Freya Croft and Michelle Voyer Conclusion: Blue Economy and Social Licence Ethical Futures Hugh Breakey and Charles Sampford

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Author Information

Hugh Breakey is Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow in moral philosophy at Griffith University’s Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law. Hugh has extensive experience in the application of ethical, legal, and political philosophy to many challenging practical fields, including institutional governance, integrity systems and marine industries. Charles Sampford was Griffith University’s Foundation Dean of Law (in 1991) and Foundation Director of the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law (since 2004). In 2008, for his work on ethics and integrity systems, Charles was recognized by the ARC as one of Australia’s 20 most impactful researchers.

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