Abstract This paper offers a critical interpretation of the EU’s recent Maritime Security Strategy (MSS) of 2014, making distinctions between hard and soft conceptions of maritime security. The theoretical approach employed invokes the ‘EU as neo-medieval empire’ (Bull 1977: 254-255; Rennger 2006; Zielonka 2006). By this account, the main objectives of EU maritime strategy are stability and encouragement of globalised maritime trade flows to be achieved using the classic instruments of ‘soft maritime security’. While replete with great possibilities, the EU’s maritime security strategy is likely to be a relatively weak maritime security regime, which suffers from a number of important limits.

中文翻译：

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欧盟的海上安全战略：关于软安全限制的新中世纪视角？

摘要本文对欧盟最近的2014年《海上安全战略》（MSS）进行了批判性解释，对海上安全的硬性和软性概念进行了区分。所采用的理论方法援引了“欧盟作为新中世纪帝国”（Bull 1977：254-255； Rennger 2006； Zielonka 2006）。因此，欧盟海上战略的主要目标是稳定和鼓励使用“软海上安全”的经典手段来实现全球化的海上贸易流量。尽管充满了巨大的可能性，但欧盟的海事安全战略可能是一个相对薄弱的海事安全制度，它受到许多重要限制。