Affiliation:
1. Department of History; University of California; Los Angeles, CA, 90095. Email: alpers@history.ucla.edu
Abstract
Abstract
The current maritime crisis being caused by Somali piracy may be of recent origin, but the phenomenon of piracy in the Indian Ocean has ancient roots. In this paper I seek to place the recent Somali experience in this wider and deeper context, arguing that what is piracy to some, may be legitimate maritime action to others. I suggest that if piracy is often in the eyes of the beholder, for others it is a response to political and economic marginalization. At the same time, in some cases piracy becomes divorced from such sources of legitimization and those who practice maritime violence become simple outlaws.
Publisher
The Pennsylvania State University Press
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