Christian Bueger

Professor Christian Bueger is Professor of International Relations in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Cardiff University. He also serves as Honorary Professor at the University of Seychelles, Research Fellow at UNIDIR (UN Institute for Disarmament Research), Director of SafeSeas (the network for maritime security research), and Co-Chair of the Copenhagen Ocean Hub. His work bridges theoretical innovation with practical policy relevance in international relations and maritime security.

Professor Bueger completed his PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute, Florence, Italy in 2010, following his Diplom-Politologe from Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His academic journey includes positions as a Leverhulme fellow at the Greenwich Maritime Institute and a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Development and Peace in Duisburg.

Professor Bueger's research centers on maritime security, international organizations, and international practice theory. His work examines how global governance operates in maritime spaces, with particular focus on the Western Indian Ocean region. He has pioneered the application of 'praxiography' as a methodology for studying international practice, initially developed through his research on counter-piracy governance. His recent work has expanded to address critical maritime infrastructure security, subsea cable protection, and the politics of global ocean regions. Professor Bueger's research consistently bridges theoretical frameworks with practical policy applications, particularly through his involvement with the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.

His scholarly output demonstrates a clear evolution from theoretical work on international practice theory to increasingly applied research on maritime security governance. Professor Bueger's publications reveal a consistent regional focus on the Western Indian Ocean while expanding to address global maritime challenges including critical infrastructure protection, the blue economy, and ocean governance. His work has successfully translated academic insights into policy relevance, as evidenced by his recent briefing to the UN Security Council on maritime security.

Professor Bueger serves as lead editor (Europe) of the European Journal of International Security and co-editor of Piracy-studies.org. His research has been featured in major media outlets including ITV, The Guardian, Africa Renewal, Veja, and The New Internationalist.

As an educator, Professor Bueger has supervised three PhD students working on maritime security topics. He has led significant research projects including the ESRC-funded 'Counter-Piracy Governance - A Praxiographic Analysis' and the British Academy-funded 'SAFE SEAS' project on maritime security capacity building. His recent publication 'The Politics of Global Ocean Regions' (2025) with Elizabeth Mendenhall and Rebecca Strating advances a novel analytical framework for studying ocean politics.

Professor Bueger is actively engaged with policy communities worldwide, regularly participating in international events such as the Regional Maritime Practitioner Programme in Singapore and the Colombian Navy Strategic Foresight seminar. In August 2025, he launched 'Turbulent Seas,' a LinkedIn newsletter providing monthly deep dives into global maritime security developments based on academic research and field experiences.