Comparative Study on Maritime Security Theory of Mahan Alfred Thayer and Geoffrey Till on the Strategic and Practical Implications of Constructing a Sea Defense

Abstract

Nowadays, the existence of maritime security had developed increasingly due to the threat of transnational crimes at sea. This security required countries to expand their maritime defense capabilities in preventing threats to national sovereignty and security. In developing maritime defense capabilities, maritime security theory was necessary to construct the basis of a country’s maritime defense strategy and policy. Thayer and Till were two maritime security theorists who made numerous contributions to expanding this concept. Therefore, this study was conducted to construct a comparison of their maritime security theory dealing with the strategic and practical implications for constructing the country’s maritime defense. To collect the data, a qualitative approach with a comparative descriptive method was employed in this study. The collected data were sourced from reliable sources such as books, journals, and articles related to the theory of maritime security and national sea defense. Finally, the results of this study indicated that the two theories hold several similarities in terms of the importance of sea power as an essential component in a maritime defense strategy. However, differences in the implications of both theories about geopolitics and national maritime defense policies were also revealed. The strategic and practical implications of both theories needed to consider in constructing a country’s maritime defense, particularly in confronting the increasingly complex maritime security challenges