Modern Day Piracy

Jenny Sue Ross

World Politics: Professor Craig

November 28, 2011

Extra Credit Paper 2

On November 21^st I went to a lecture in the SIS Founder’s Room entitled “Somali Piracy: Why Should We Care?" The lecture was lead by Dr. Martin Murphy and Edward Lucas. Dr. Murphy spoke for the majority of time both in the presentation and the Q&A, but this is understandable because he is a leading expert in the field and Mr. Lucas is a PhD student.

Mr. Lucas spoke first, telling us about his research into “maritime super-powers and their roles in suppressing piracy.” He started by explaining how many people define piracy: attacks occurring more than 12 miles from land. Some believe that states should be able to control attacks within 12 miles of their shore. Mr. Lucas however, is looking at attacks both within and outside of that magic 12 mile mark. The majority of Mr. Lucas’ research plans stem from a belief that many share: the hegemony should suppress piracy. Mr. Lucas explained that he is investigating these questions: Should the hegemon suppress piracy? Can they? What would be the cost? Is it in the best interest of the hegemon to provide this public good? His portion of the lecture did not provide any answers to these questions. Mr. Lucas is still researching to try to find the answers.

I found Mr. Lucas’ questions about a hegemon’s responsibility to suppress piracy interesting, but I was a little disappointed that no answers or even theories were discussed. He only briefly touched upon his hypotheses, which he admitted were mildly contradictory, and ended his portion of the lecture. Still, I enjoyed that his research topic correlated with topics we have discussed in class, like hegemonies, power and reciprocity, sovereignty and others. These connections kept me interested during his presentation because I did not feel like it was over my head or unrelated to my own studies.

Next, Dr. Murphy spoke about his research into Somali piracy. I was very excited for this portion of the lecture because Somali piracy has made its way into the news quite a bit in the past few years, but I honestly do not know a lot about it. Dr. Murphy began by posing the question why should the US care about Somali piracy? He explained that his answer would be broken down into six categories: economic cost, human security, privatization of naval force, naval performance, geo-strategic issues and political implications.

With respect to the economic cost, Dr. Murphy said the effects of piracy are relatively negligible. He compared the cost of Somali piracy to the cost companies bear due to shoplifting. However, he pointed out that the cost of piracy could become much more significant if paying ransom became illegal, as some have suggested it should. If this were the case, sailors would be too afraid to sail to the region near Somali because it would become much less likely that they would be released alive if captured. The hostages would become monetarily worthless in the eyes of the pirates. This fear would greatly hinder trade in this region and make the cost of piracy more significant.

Then, he spoke about the aspect of human security. This is the humanitarian reason the US should care about piracy. Dr. Murphy mentioned that there have been reports of physical and psychological abuse of the hostages. Also, he said that the effect of piracy on the families of the hostages should be considered. These families have no source of income while their loved ones are trapped, often for months, as a hostage.

The following issue discussed was the privatization of naval force. The states have been unable to protect the sailors, so they have had to hire private security to travel with them. This sets the precedent that the protection of trade is a private problem rather than a state problem. Dr. Murphy suggested that the US should decide if we back this idea, and if we take issue with this practice, then the use of private security becomes a US concern.

Dr. Murphy’s subsequent point was that there are less than 30 ships protecting the region around Somali, which is the size of western Europe. This lack of state protection, as previously stated, has lead to a rise in the use of private security. If private security becomes the norm, then what is the role of the navy? Also, the insufficient state protection of this region causes the public to believe the navy is failing. The future role of the navy and soothing public opinion are both issues that Dr. Murphy suggests that the US should care about.

Next, the geo-strategic importance of controlling Somali piracy was explained. This region holds 8 percent of the world’s oil and 35 percent of European oil. As a member of the world community who consume some of this oil and as an ally of many European countries, the US has an interest in keeping the area stable. Dr. Murphy stated that if this piracy is allowed to continue it could cause instability from the Red Sea to Kenya.

Finally, he spoke of the political importance of Somali piracy. Dr. Murphy explained that continued US indifference to Somali piracy could lead other countries to question its ability to protect “the system,” a hegemonic duty. He also suggested that the navies cannot do any more or better than they currently are without political backing for their efforts.

Dr. Murphy concluded his presentation by explaining what can be done to help lessen Somali piracy. He said that the rewards for piracy need to be decreased and the risks need to be increased. This makes sense, but he did not really explain how to change the balance of benefits and risks. There was a slide on the subject, but he breezed by it. This, I felt, left the presentation on a lackluster note. In spite of the disappointing conclusion, I found his points to be interesting and compelling.

Mr. Lucas and Dr. Murphy approached the subject of modern day piracy differently, but both focused on the duty of the hegemon. Dr. Murphy seemed to have made the assumption that Mr. Lucas was challenging, the hegemon should be involved in suppressing piracy. I could not help but wonder while I was listening to Dr. Murphy what his response will be if Mr. Lucas’ research challenges his primary assumption by concluding that the hegemon should not be involved in suppressing piracy due to cost or inability to solve the issue.