Internationally recognized as an expert on
maritime
piracy,
Murphy analyzes Somalia and how its waters came to be the
most prolific
region
of pirates today. He also compares this evolution with the
Barbary
corsairs in
Northern Africa, who threatened Mediterranean ships and
seamen from the
Middle
Ages into the nineteenth century.
Many volumes on Somali piracy focus only on that and fail
to
examine how historical events impacted the people and
culture. Murphy
provides
a comprehensive examination through twenty-eight chapters.
Also included are a
list of abbreviations, map, notes, and an index.
In the early 1990s, the International Maritime Bureau
designated the waters off Somalia as one of the most
pirate infested in
the
world. Many scholars blame this on the country being a
“failed state,”
yet that
alone cannot be the cause of piracy as Murphy shows in his
comparison
to piracy
in Indonesia. He then lists what common bonds piracy-prone
areas share
before
returning to how piracy evolved into its current situation
in Somalia.
His
overall rationale is “to examine whether or not state
failure is a
useful and
accurate explanation” for this piracy, and he does so
through a review
of “the
history, motivation, organization, criminal methods, and
operational
tactics of
the Somali pirates”. (3) He also explores terrorism as it
relates to
the
maritime world here. While highlighting various attacks,
he puts this
type of
crime into perspective globally. The narrative clearly
shows that just
because
the state has failed doesn’t mean that governing is
nonexistent. To
round out
this assessment, Murphy discusses why legal prosecution of
these
criminals is
such a problem.
After
providing a
well-rounded investigation into Somalia, Murphy compares
this region to
that of
the Barbary States. This interesting chapter shows the
similarities and
differences, as well as the lessons that can be learned in
studying
these two
regions and periods. Perhaps the strongest and most
succinct paragraph,
however, is the closing one in the final chapter. This
summary
epitomizes what
was and is true, not only as regards Somalia, but other
regions to come
where
we must and need to fight piracy.
Review
Copyrighted
©2011
Cindy Vallar
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Somalia: A Failed
State?
- Somali Piracy:
1989-2006
- Piracy and Fishing
- The Principal Piracy
Groups: 1996-2006
- The Attack on the Seabourn
Spirit and its Consequences
- A Clan-based Society
- The Barre
Dictatorship and its Aftermath
- The Rise and Fall of
the TNG and the Rise of the TFG
- Economic Motivation
for Turmoil
- Puntland: The Pirate
Sanctuary?
- Somalia: Without a
Government but not Ungoverned
- The Growth of
Political Islam
- The Link to
Terrorism
- The Rise of the
Islamic Courts Union (ICU)
- The ICU Come to
Power
- The ICU’s Fall
- The Return of the
Pirate Gangs
- The Consequences of
Reward
- Why Piracy Became so
Virulent: the Political Dimension
- Why Piracy Became so
Profitable: the Organizational Dimension
- Legal Measures
- The Naval Response
- Somali Piracy and
Terrorism
- The Further Fall of
a Fallen State
- Al-Shabaab and the
Growth of Islamism in Southern Somalia
- Somalia and Barbary
- Conclusions
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