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Piracy and Stability


Shannon Hargitt
Global Security Studies
Professor Shirk
1 October 2017
Piracy and the Security of Somalia

Instability in the nation directly opens the door to illegal activity to gain basic personal and human security. Piracy is a direct effect of government instability in Somalia. Due to the instability in government and individual security, a rogue group of people decided to find another way to provide for their families and communities thus bringing a false sense of stability and security. Somali is a failed state, the government has collapsed and is mostly non-existent, and whatever government there is holds no real power to create change or help its people. Therefore, instability lead to the need for Somali pirates to begin raiding and holding ships for hostage to bring a profit back to their communities.
Piracy is an act in which people set up preplanned attacks on ships and cargo vessels to either rob them or hold them for ransom. The profits of which help to fund more attacks and create stability for those who participate in it. Piracy was a $12 billion industry in 2010, but has receded to exactly half of that to $6 billion in 2012.  Somali pirates first materialized as a risk to shipping companies and their crewmen since the second stage of the Somali Civil War in the early 21st century. Insecurity brought about by the Somalian Civil War have led to an eruption of piracy in international waters. Thus, affecting not only Somalian fishing companies and ships, but other national trade ships and businesses. Piracy emerged in the Gulf of Aden and caused economic backlash and safety concerns for both commercial and private businesses that use the Gulf of Aden as a necessary portion of their trade routes. While the piracy in the Gulf of Aden has been diminishing since its’ peak in 2006, it is continuously growing in the Strait of Malacca and the Gulf of Guinea.
            Regardless of where piracy is occurring in the world, the one variable that seems to be common is the instability of the government to protect or provide for its people. Piracy is a last resort type of action, meaning that if it had been avoidable I believe these men would not have resorted to it. The instability of the state of Somalia led to the act of piracy exploding in the Gulf of Aden and the waters surrounding Somalia. While Somalia is a failed state, there are other states that hold a candle of comparison with the same kinds of problems. For example, in Iraq the instability in the government allowed for the formation of Al Qaeda and then eventually ISIS. This instability and insecurity opened the door to people seeking illegal means to achieve their goals and to seek security.  Somalia is a failed state and does not supply the human security or even ontological security for their people, without the security of their people they resort to illegal means to find their fundamental security. This is exactly why when interviewing people of Somalia it was not unordinary for the pirates and their actions to be supported by the people. Some Somalian citizens even refer to the pirates as their personal navy of coast guard. This all comes from the fact that they provide a sense of monetary and physical security that their governments is incapable of. Ultimately these people are seeking protection, security, and stability and a life of piracy provides this for them as a more viable option than waiting to rely on a broken system of government.



Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 2, 2017 at 9:15 AM

    Nice analysis! I thought it was a great connection to mention how this cycle of instability is not a localized issue, and appears in different forms across the globe. It is unfortunate that the people of Somalia felt like their only option was to turn to piracy to basically survive. The question the keeps floating around in my mind is, with the conditions in the failed state of Somalia, did people have a better alternative than to turn to piracy? Without there being a governmental presence in this country to provide help and support for the people, they had to turn somewhere else for resources and money. It definitely is a complex and difficult issue.

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  2. UnknownOctober 3, 2017 at 4:07 PM

    I really liked your thesis, that instability caused people to turn to piracy as a last resort. This reminds me of one of the first classes that we had when we discussed the different types of security. Your example seems to emulate the ideas behind national security and the thought that the state is necessary for human flourishing. The absence of a stable state in Somalia has led to the rise of piracy in the country. However, at the same time, I wonder if the increase in piracy has prevented the creation of a new, stable government. Especially considering the fact that, as you pointed out, many Somali people view pirates as a sort of coast guard in lieu of any real government to protect them.

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  3. UnknownOctober 8, 2017 at 10:37 AM

    I liked the comparison to ISIS and the Middle East with the instability which is something I touched upon as well. I do want to say that does the piracy create security for the people within the region really? Since we discussed within class that the people who actually did the acts of piracy withhold most of the money and the people get very little. I would say they receive more of a cushion rather than security, even without thinking towards economic security it is hard to see that the people in Somalia are ontologically secure. Also I agree with Rachael and the fact that the government was cut short of being able grow to become more stable since the people have been put in a mind set that this is all they have now.

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  4. AnonymousOctober 8, 2017 at 7:56 PM

    I really enjoyed your last paragraph as it summarizes the overall failure of Somalia to protect its nation's identity and the overall demise of ontological security. The concept of piracy being a last resort is an interesting idea that you explored very well. Essentially, the unstable governmental actions of Somalia combined with the attributes of it being a failed state contributes to people resulting to extreme measures as a means to an end. This I see is almost comparable to other types of extremism like with members of ISIS or other groups like Boko Haram. Doing an unjust, criminal, and dare to say immoral act is something most individuals do out of last resort effort; therefore, by saying that piracy is within those parameters and supported by other Somalians creates a bizarre sense of validity within the Somali minds.

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