O PRINCÍPIO DA LIBERDADE DOS MARES NA POLÍTICA INTERNACIONAL

o passado e o presente

Abstract

This article aims to evaluate how the principle of freedom of the seas, today enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), had its interpretation transformed by national states between the Modern Age and contemporary times, as a result of imperialist designs. Concerns about the principle are the most important variable in the social and historical construction of the oceans. The current definition of freedom inherits from the writings of philosopher and jurist Hugo Grotius, particularly from Mare Liberum (1609), which defended free oceanic use as a natural right, opposing the claims of Portugal, Spain, and England to privatize the seas. Grotius grounded his arguments in natural law and the law of nations, establishing that oceans constitute res communis, incapable of appropriation due to the impossibility of occupation. The Grotian principle integrates two complementary dimensions: jus communicationis (right of movement and navigation) and jus commercii (right to trade and resource exploitation). However, in the 21st century, the concept is being used to justify the opposite of what it was originally supposed to mean. Events such as the Truman Proclamation (1945) and contemporary disputes over marine resources reveal that major powers manipulate the freedom principle to legitimize hegemonic interests, inverting the historical logic that opposed freedom to imperialist pretensions.

Keywords: Freedom – oceans – UNCLOS - international politics.