Most Americans’ perception of pirates has been tainted by Disney’s productions; its pirates are usually eccentric, rugged, and dirty individualists. In Pirates of the Caribbean, the protagonist Captain Jack Sparrow is presented as loveable, laughable, and loony. However, the pirates of the Indian Ocean are not what Disney has taught us to expect. Pirating has become Somalia’s most lucrative industry, and, it’s causing international turmoil.

Historically, the closest parallel to today’s Somali pirates are the pirates of the Barbary Coast. These predominantly Muslim pirates operated around Algiers were successful, organized, and socially accepted—some traveled as far as Iceland. They were so powerful that most European powers paid duties to prevent attacks on their merchant ships.   After American independence from Britain was attained, the United States was also forced to invest in the safety of its merchant ships. After refusing to pay tribute to North African pirates so that they would not attack American ships, America engaged in the First Barbary War in 1801 and the Second Barbary War in 1815. Even after the relative success of the Second Barbary War, piracy was still a problem for Europe, and Britain bombarded Algiers in 1816 and again in 1824, which stifled piracy in the region. This age of piracy only officially ended when the French took Algiers in 1830.

Although it has been almost two hundred years, the piracy problem persists, and history’s answer of coastal bombardment and colonization is no longer viable. The similarities are striking; in Somalia, pirates are socially accepted, wealthy, (believed to be) discretely financed by Dubai businessmen, and tacitly allowed to exist by their ineffective government because of the wealth they bring to Somalia. A United Nations report suggested that pirate gangs had compromised the government of Puntland, a semi-autonomous region home to a third of the SomalianSomali population.  A lively port city, Puntland is the new Algiers. According to Mary Harper of the BBC, Puntland caters to its pirate population, even opening restaurants to feed the pirates’ hostages and crews.  The pirates are thought to bring in close to 30 million dollars a year, and they often devote it to lavish  lifestyles.  Recreational drug use among the pirates is common, and, as Abdi Farah Juha, who lives in the regional capital Garowe, said in an interview with the BBC, “They wed the most beautiful girls, they are building big houses, they have new cars [and] new guns.” 

Initially the pirates perceived themselves as a coast-guard-like entity, defending Somalia’s fishing waters from illegal trawlers ruining the industry. Now, the pirates’ influence has extended far beyond this capacity. Gus Constantine of the Washington Times deemed Somalia a failed state because it lackeds a cohesive, sovereign, central government that is capable of negotiations. Due to the constant civil war, there was a stable supply of arms and people willing and able to use them. About one half of Somalians lives on less than one dollar a day, and about one third of the population survives on food aid. Somalia is also laden with the medical and military burdens that many African nations face. To many Somalians, piracy seems to be a rare option tothat improves their quality of life.  Maybe after being  plundered by colonial powers for hundreds of years, some Somalians are eager to have success and live comfortably.comfortably. These pirates are not woefully irrational; piracy is a lucrative career choice.

Recently the international community has once again taken action against piracy. As a result of the capturing and ransoming of many ships, including the Sirius Star, an oil tanker carrying a 100 million dollar cargo, and a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 military tanks, warships are increasingly moving into the area for protection. 30 percent of the world’s oil, as well as most of the shipping from Asia to Europe, passes through the Suez Canal many countries have a vested interest in keeping this route safe. The European Union recently launched Task Force Atlanta, which essentially consists of six warships to patrol the area. China, Russia, Malaysia, and India also have warships on similar missions. However, since more than a million square miles need to be patrolled, monitoring the area is a daunting if not impossible task, according to Jonah Fisher of the BBC. Some within the United Nations have questioned this tactic, pointing out that without meaningful changes on dry land, piracy will most likely continue. 

In addition, the American Free Press expects the cost of the EU’s naval force to be 320 million dollars, which exceeds four times the EU’s annual aid budget for all of Somalia. The jury is still out on whether the influx of more warships will help. The BBC has embedded Jonah Fisher on the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Northumberland, which is part of the Atlanta Task Force. According to Fisher’s sources on board, although there has been a lull in piracy as of late, this fluctuation may be attributed to the seasonal weather conditions that compromise the pirates’ small-boat operations, and piracy could likely resume as the weather improves. 

In this globalized world, failed states are becoming a more critical international problem. In addition to providing a breeding ground for terrorism and extremism, they hurt international trade. The consequences of failed domestic situations can spread to affect other places and people not directly involved. Barbary Coast piracy ended when the French colonized Algiers in 1830 and provided a stable government on land. For the modern piracy problem to be solved, a stable government on land  is a crucial part of the solution. However, given the more immediate problems in Afghanistan, Israel, Iraq, and Iran, Somalia’s problems will most likely go unnoticed until another high-profile ransoming takes place.