Article,
Coalition Strategy and the Pirates of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea
Comparative Strategy, 28 (3): 197--216 (July 2009)
Abstract
The April 2009 seizure of the U.S.-flagged Motor Vessel 'Maersk Alabama' and its twenty American crew members off the coast of Somalia should signal a change in counterpiracy strategy, away from a focus on major warship deployments by distant state major maritime powers, and toward development of a regional maritime security force constructed around numerous smaller patrol craft. Outside powers should focus on further advancing new international law and policy frameworks, which have become the most significant force multipliers for developing maritime security and offer the most effective approach to counterpiracy in the Horn of Africa. Complementing this effort will require a long-term program of regional maritime-security capacity building to support implementation of the new law and policy approaches. Piracy flourishes at the seams of globalization because jurisdiction is unclear and pirates exploit the inherent isolation of individual vessels and nations. Regional powers in the Horn of Africa have underdeveloped law enforcement and judicial systems and suffer from a severe lack of resources. In this setting, global and regional legal and policy frameworks in the areas of operational maritime security, judicial institutions, and law enforcement will be more effective in addressing piracy than adding another warship from an outside naval power to the equation.
