Collective Corporate Power and the International Maritime Organization ( IMO )
2026-07-09
The importance of international shipping in economic development, as well as its intersection with international security, environmental protection and other fields of global governance, has encouraged much interest in the rule‐making processes that govern the sector. While literature has often highlighted the centrality of corporate power in maritime policy processes, existing scholarship has lacked detailed accounts of how corporate power in these processes is constructed and sustained. In this context, this article examines the construction of corporate power in the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN specialized agency that regulates global shipping. Drawing on literature on the politics of knowledge in global governance, the article seeks to examine how corporate actors (focusing on shipowners) negotiate expert authority in the IMO. It argues that shipowners' associations, uniquely, can generate the forms of material and epistemic resources that enable shipowners' negotiation of expert authority in the organization. In making this argument, the article contributes to literatures on both maritime governance and business associations.