Ethics and Social Licence in the Blue Economy

Author: Hugh Breakey; Charles Sampford
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781032972053

Published In: February 2026
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

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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.

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