Post-democratic sustainability in the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement. On the depoliticized inclusion of the waters of occupied Western Sahara

Abstract: The territory of Western Sahara (WS) has been occupied by Morocco since 1975, displacing many of the indigenous people now living in refugee camps in Algeria. In 2019, the EU adopted a new Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) with Morocco which includes WS waters. This in spite of two court rulings stating that trade agreements including WS resources are not legal without the consent of the people of WS. This thesis shows how sustainability is used to depoliticize the inclusion of WS waters in the SFPA. Applying the political theory of Jacques Rancière in a document analysis of official EU documents around the SFPA, the analysis reveals how the presentation of sustainable development as necessary creates a post-democratic policy space in which dissenting voices are rendered illegible. Finally, the thesis reflects on how sustainability science can avoid contributing to post-democratic tendencies by actively looking for the political in environmental governance.