International Law & The (De)Regulation of Racial Capitalism: Imaginaries of the High Seas

The Philippines is by far the largest supplier of foreign cheap labour aboard the ships that make up the logistical networks delivering goods to our doorsteps (ICS, 2021). Due to the ways in which international maritime and labour laws are imbricated with national laws, the shipping industry has effectively circumvented labour, environmental, and tax regulations in a bifurcated legal landscape layered on top of colonial geographies. In order to understand the new frontier of racial capitalism – its current vector: logistical capitalism – it remains crucial to research the (de)regulation of the maritime industry. By studying a conflict of laws case brought forward to the Dutch Supreme Court, we seek to explore – using the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries – how legal imaginaries of the high seas express and enact racial capitalism.