The International Maritime Organization’s Contribution to Regime Interaction: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of The Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, this article revisits the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) contribution to regime interaction in the fields of air pollution, climate change, ship waste management and rescue of migrants at sea. Particular attention is given to cooperation arrangements between international organizations and how their day-to-day activities contribute to or hinder legal development among legal regimes. These interactions are studied through the theoretical lenses of ‘relational interactions’ and ‘regime complexes’. The paper focuses on iterative and forward-looking cooperation arrangements and the characteristics of such interactions ranging from collaborative to conflictive. I illustrate how the IMO has made substantial contributions (beyond maritime law) to the law of the sea and international environmental law, but the contribution to refugee law has been more modest. While the IMO will continue to engage in regime interaction, legal scholarship should pay closer attention to institutional congestion in international law. Since the international legal system has no pre-established hierarchy, governance is horizontal and may be prone to conflicts. It is time to devise mechanisms that allow relational interactions while avoiding legal fragmentation and forum shifting risks.