Despite bold assertions to the contrary the concept of an economic zone of exclusive coastal State jurisdiction is not unknown to modern international law of the sea. What is new is the choice of terminology employed to describe the concept and its identification with the countries of the Third World. As with the development of other norms relating to State interaction in ocean space, the concept of the exclusive economic zone reflects the interplay of economic, political and strategic interests which characterizes the problems of the law of the sea in the twentieth century
