Alexandra Sommers

April 20, 2008

Original Research Questions Can Applying Networks Centric

Operation Theory to piracy help the anti-piracy effort?Need an implementing bodyWho are the implementing bodies?

Can utilizing NCO theory help produce a security regime on the seas? And will that help reduce piracy?Who is to implement the law?If caught, what happens next?

Modern Pirate Trends

Pirate attacks peaked in 2003: 445 worldwide

2006: 239 2007: 263 Economic impact from $250 million to

$16 billion

Pirate Attacks 2007

Literature

United NationsInternational Maritime OrganizationUN Conventions on the Laws of the Seas

(UNCOLS)

International Chamber of CommerceInternational Maritime BureauIMB yearly report on maritime piracy

Literature

Catherine Raymond- Zara Jolly Roger with an Uzi Violence at Sea: Piracy in the Age of

Global Terrorism United Nations News Sources Yearly report on piracy Media Organizations

Why?

Why are certain geographic areas more prone to piracy than others?

What can be done in these areas?Maritime security regime is not going to

affect unstable governmentsSecurity regime is not going to affect poor

nationsAssumption: There is less law on the sea…

would more law be helpful?

Why?

Why were attacks geographically specific?

Why were specific types of attacks geographically specific?

Why was nothing being done? Why did the media only focus on

Somalia? There are pirate attacks daily across the globe?

Practical Requirements to Piracy The rewards must be greater than the

risks The geographic area must be one in

which the risk of detection is minimal The geopolitical situation must allow for

safe havens where pirates can hide, seek repairs for ships, obtain supplies, and sell their looted goods

New Questions!

To have piracy in a geographic area, the three conditions must be met…

Therefore, change conditions.First two are most likely to be changedHow to change these conditions?

New Questions! Back to the Beginning… What is piracy? How is it defined?

Piracy as a crime as defined by international law

Piracy as a global security threat

Discourse of piracyMediaAcademiaInternational Legal OrganizationsNation-States legal code

Piracy as a Crimea. “any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of

depredation committed for private ends by the crew or passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directedi) On the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against

persons or property on board such ship or aircraft.ii) Against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside

the jurisdiction or any Stateb. Any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a

ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft.

c. Any act inciting or of intentionally facilitating an act described in sub-paragraphs a or b.

(Article 101: United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas 1982)

Problems

Piracy as an act committed for private ends

Crime is the jurisdiction of any State if within the 12 nautical mile zone

Security Threats

Humanitarian Threats Environmental Threats Links to Terrorism

Research Question

As presented above, maritime piracy can be viewed from the framework of both international crime and as a security problem. My research question is to understand further the discursive differences in these two frameworks and how the discourse of crime and security have impacted maritime policy in international law

Method Critical Geopolitcal Lens of the

discourse of piracyInternational Maritime LawInternational Maritime PolicyInternational Maritime Court CasesStudy of the Language of these casesCase studies of pirate attacks (from a

complied database of pirate attacks) to prove that the definition of piracy needs to be changed because of the new nature of piracy