Practically becoming international: expertise, infrastructure and classification societies in maritime governance

Ocean governance is the subject of a vibrant and expanding literature in International Relations. Much of this literature has examined the role of rule-making sites in governing the seas, and the extensive role of private, commercial actors therein. While scholars point to expertise as one of the main sources of power and legitimacy for private actors in global rule-making, little scholarship has sought to explore how and why commercial actors have achieved a position of such prominence in maritime policy processes. Drawing on Science and Technology Studies and debates in Historical IR, this paper examines the role of technical expertise and commercial infrastructure as historical drivers of the power of corporate actors in international maritime governance. To do this, it analyses the case of classification societies (in particular, Lloyd’s Register) in the development and implementation of load line regulations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This case study demonstrates how the mobilization of technical expertise and a global commercial infrastructure for the implementation of safety standards beyond the nation state was crucial to the establishment of an international standard of ship loading, centring private actors in maritime governance structures.