Abstract: Géopolitique des détroits. Enjeux de contrôle de passages stratégiques addresses a highly topical issue in geopolitical studies: the importance of international straits in the global system. In an accessible manner, it presents the reader with a crucial paradox: on the one hand, the enduring economic and strategic importance of maritime passages, inherited across generations and reinforced, rather than diminished, by developments in global trade and modern trends in maritime traffic; on the other, the potential for these locations to become flashpoints of disruption and crises capable of unsettling regional and international security and prosperity. The book defines this geographical space and enhances the reader’s understanding of it by examining its geographical characteristics, political and legal governance, and role in structuring shipping routes and shaping the flows of global trade. It then explores its economic significance and its function as a pivotal link between centers of export and import, serving the pulsating heart of globalisation and its ceaseless flows. Drawing on a survey of some of the world’s most important straits, supported primarily by extensive economic indicators, the authors explore the possibilities of reducing a dangerous and near-total dependence that leaves the global economy and prosperity hostage to these vital passages. The book can scarcely be read outside the context of unfolding crises that are intensifying today in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb, as well as potential crises at the points where the strategies of major powers intersect. Keywords: straits, geopolitics, law of the sea, navigation, international trade, Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb.
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