1st Edition

Ethics and Social Licence in the Blue Economy

Edited By Hugh Breakey, Charles Sampford Copyright 2026
200 Pages 8 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

200 Pages 8 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Ethics and Social Licence in the Blue Economy squarely confronts the vexing and urgent ethical challenges related to the economic and development potential of the seas. A work of applied moral philosophy, incorporating interdisciplinary elements in law, governance and social science, it provides a multifaceted philosophical interrogation of social licence, explaining its complex relationship to... Read more

PART 1 The Social Licence to Operate

Introduction: Ethics and Social Licence in the Blue Economy

Hugh Breakey and Charles Sampford

1 Understanding and Ethically Analysing the Social Licence to Operate

Hugh Breakey, Charles Sampford and Graham Wood

2 Social Licence and Legal Licence: Analysing the Analogy

Charles Sampford and Melea Lewis

3 SLO: A Conceptual and Analogical Analysis

Graham Wood

4 Four Types of Social Licence to Operate: The Ethical and Operational Risks of Authentic, Deceptive, Default and Tick-Box SLO Approaches

Hugh Breakey, Graham Wood, Larelle Bossi and Charles Sampford

5 Moving Beyond a Social Licence to Operate: Locating Cultural Licence to Operate Within Country

Larelle Bossi and Fiona Hamilton

PART 2 SLO and Ethics in the Blue Economy

6 Ethical Values and SLO in the Blue Economy

Hugh Breakey, Rebecca Marshallsay, Larelle Bossi, Charles Sampford and Katja Cooper

7 Ethical Risk in the Blue Economy Integrity System

Hugh Breakey and Charles Sampford

8 Blue Ethics and Ocean Values: Overcoming Sea Blindness toward a New Ethical Ocean Culture

Larelle Bossi

9 Not Just for and Against: Engaging with the Ethical Complexity of Stakeholders’ Attitudes to Offshore Wind Developments

Hugh Breakey, Larelle Bossi, Charles Sampford, Michael Mehmet, Jennifer Algie, Freya Croft and Michelle Voyer

Conclusion: Building Authentic SLO for the Blue Economy

Hugh Breakey and Charles Sampford

Biography

Hugh Breakey is Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow in moral philosophy at Griffith University’s Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law. Hugh has extensive experience in the application of ethical, legal and political philosophy to many challenging practical fields, including institutional governance, integrity systems and marine industries.

Charles Sampford was Griffith University’s Foundation Dean of Law (in 1991) and Foundation Director of the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law (since 2004). In 2008, for his work on ethics and integrity systems, Charles was recognised by the ARC as one of Australia’s 20 most impactful researchers.