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Bahadur spends considerable time debunking myths - that Somali waters are teeming with pirates, or that pirates are the tools of radical jihadists, or that they are part of an international criminal cabal, or that they have intelligence networks that rival none in Africa. Bahadur paints a portrait of a place where persistent clans and corruption have prevented the development of a mature modern state, a desperate corner of the world where even street signs are stripped for the value of the metal.

Somalia is a failed state, representing a threat to itself, its neighbours and the wider world. In recent years, it has become notorious for the piracy off its coast and the rise of Islamic extremism, opening it up as a new 'southern front' in the war on terror. At least that is how it is inevitably portrayed by politicians and in the media. Mary Harper presents the first comprehensive account of the chaos into which the country has descended and the United States' renewed involvement there. In doing so, Harper argues that viewing Somalia through the prism of al-Qaeda risks further destabilizing the country and the entire Horn of Africa, while also showing that though the country may be a failed state, it is far from being a failed society. In reality, alternative forms of business, justice, education and local politics have survived and even flourished. Provocative in its analysis, Harper shows that until the international community starts to 'get it right' the consequences will be devastating, not just for Somalia, but for the world.

The first contribution to Global Flashpoints: A Scarecrow Press Series, Christopher Daniels’ Somali Piracy and Terrorism in the Horn of Africa provides readers with a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the spate of piracy and terrorism plaguing the waters of Somalia and the global threat posed by this activity. Contesting the commonly held perception that the piracy and terrorism occurring in Somalia are two separate and unrelated activities, Daniels reveals how the collapse of the Somali state and the chaos that has ensued created the environment for piracy and terrorism to flourish in combination. He also notes how the failure to restore a functioning central government has allowed both to become dangerous threats not only to the people of Somalia but the entire world. Underscoring Somalia’s dire state, Somali Piracy and Terrorism in the Horn of Africa lays out for readers such significant topics as the reasons behind the collapse of the Somali state and the secession of Somaliland, Puntland, and Jubaland; the rise of internationally-linked terrorist groups, such as Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam; and the dramatic spike in pirate attacks off the Somali coast. Daniels concludes by critiquing the methods that have been used to help alleviate these global security challenges and gives policy recommendations for future consideration. Designed to enhance readers’ grasp of this global flashpoint, this volume includes a timeline, a glossary of terms, biographical entries on key individual and institutional actors in this conflict, and selected primary sources. It is the ideal introduction to students and scholars of international relations, African history and politics, terrorism, and maritime studies.

The recent surge in piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia has triggered an international response which is unprecedented in terms of the number of actors involved.The International Response to Somali Piracy presents a comprehensive treatment of the international response to Somali piracy, exploring current initiatives to counter the piracy.

What explains the variation in piracy along the coasts of Somalia? We answer this question by drawing upon Protection Theory and a new data set of piracy incidents. First, we make a distinction between pirates and protectors of piracy (authorities and local clans). We show that authorities offer shelter and protection to pirates in areas remote from trade routes and when they face challenges over political control Theoretically, the paper identifies the moment when a protector decides to switch from protecting crime to protecting legitimate trading activities; it also highlights a preserve effect of electoral democracy in unstable contexts, namely the strong incentives to rely on organized criminals to fund electoral competition and secessionist aspirations. We conclude by offering comparative remarks on the trajectory of the nation-building project in Somalia and suggest that building infrastructures, fostering regional trade and more generally providing alternative sources of income to local communities is the best way to fight piracy.

Maritime piracy is a growing scourge on the international community—imposing large costs on maritime states and the shipping industry, as well as potentially undermining state capacity and funding terrorism. Using original data on over 3,000 pirate attacks, the authors argue that these attacks are, in part, a response to poor labor market opportunities. To establish this, the authors take advantage of the strong effect of commodity prices on labor market opportunities in piracy-prone states. Consistent with this theory, the authors show that changes in the price of labor- and capital-intensive commodities have consistent and strong effects on the number of pirate attacks in a country's territorial waters each month. The authors confirm these results by instrumenting for commodity prices using monthly precipitation levels.

From the 1990’s to early 2000’s, the modern face of maritime piracy has plagued the coast of Somalia impacting on one the world’s major shipping lanes of the international trade: The Gulf of Aden. In this article, we analyse pirates social and ethnical characteristics, their organisation and the evolution of piracy acts conducted during this period in this part of the world, a profit-making activity for the Somali pirates. The loss of billions of dollars for some strategic energy sectors (and for maritime economy as a whole) also led us to reflect on the way the International Community and National States have generally intervened with regards to this issue, particularly the most affected States. We therefore also investigate how the International Community combat maritime piracy in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. In the end, we attempt to gauge these efficiency measures, comparing the economic cost of sea piracy with protection costs assumed by States and private actors.

Somali piracy has been poorly understood and consequently the international strategy designed to curtail it has not worked. Because of this mismatch some of the pirates have extended their exploits deep into the Indian Ocean. This article provides an analysis which shows that several pirate types driven by different logics have operated along the Somali coast and all but one of these pirates emerged as a result of the Somali state's disintegration. In contrast, pirates in other Third World regions operate under established states. Therefore, we argue that piracy is not only a matter of robbery on the high seas, but that political economy and conflict over resources have been fundamental to the rise of piracy in the region. The article offers a more refined assessment of the piracy in the region, as well as a critical appraisal of the moral economy of Somali pirates which yields an alternative method of understanding and curbing the problem.

The accurate monitoring of piracy tactics is imperative for understanding the changing nature of piracy. Using the most comprehensive, global piracy data set available to date—the Contemporary Maritime Piracy Database (CMPD), this article documents the change in piracy, identifying that the new form of piracy that emerged in the 1990s became the dominant type of piracy in the study period. The CMPD suggests that even though the escalation of piracy in Somalia has affected the profile of piracy overall, other forms of piracy, which display a different set of characteristics, still remain.