Martin N. Murphy

Somali piracy has been linked repeatedly to the spectre of Barbary. Piracy off the Horn of Africa has certainly raged with the intensity of a perfect storm with the spread of conflict and disorder. The purpose of this book is to examine whether or not state failure is a useful and accurate explanation for Somali piracy and if violent Islamism could exploit what the pirates have achieved for their own ends. It reviews the history, motivation, organization, criminal methods and operational tactics of the Somali pirates from their first manifestations in the mid-1990s to the present. It attempts to show that their activities and their fortunes are linked to the rise and fall of political groups within Somalia. It asks why and how violent Islamist groups operate within Somalia and the degree to which they might exploit the maritime dimension in the future. Finally it reviews whether or not the political and military solutions being practised or proposed currently will resolve either problem.… (meer)

The sea is a restless realm. In part that restlessness is timeless: the action of wind and waves. In part it is ancient: the direct threat of pirates. In part it is very modern: the threat of terrorism that has been felt acutely since the events of 11 September 2001. The reaction to these events has had a profound and continuing impact in the maritime domain. It has been alleged that pirates and maritime terrorists present a largely common threat to international maritime security. This book drives to the heart of this proposal by reviewing in detail each phenomenon before asking how and under what circumstances pirates and maritime terrorists might combine forces. Murphy concludes that while piracy may be a marginal problem in itself, the connections between organised piracy, wider criminal networks and corruption on land mean that it may undermine states and destabilise the regions in which it occurs. Furthermore, maritime criminality may disguise insurgent and terrorist activity and allow such actors greater freedom of manoeuvre. He contends also that many of the factors that encourage piracy and maritime terrorism overlap and moreover that these may also encourage and sustain the more generalised issue of maritime disorder that embraces a wide range of illegal activity. In this context Murphy suggests that maritime terrorism, although only a low-level threat currently, has the potential to spread and become more effective in the event of political change on land. Before this can happen, however, maritime terrorists and insurgents will have to overcome significant operational and technical problems and, above all, find a means of triggering a level of fear stemming from atrocities committed at sea similar to that resulting from attacks perpetrated on land if they are to achieve their political objectives.… (meer)