Pirates, terrorists and local politics: the professionalization of Somali piracy, next episode?

By Jan Stockbruegger Last year in March 2010 we published a blog titled “Gunmen, Fish and Puntland: the Professionalization of Piracy?“ outlining the findings of the UN Monitoring Group on Somali piracy (Report of the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia, S/2010/91 (10 March 2010)). Its results were that pirates are indeed becoming more professional by … Read more

The Contours of Piracy Studies in International Relations: Some observations from the ISA Annual Conference, Montreal, 2011.

Piracy is a growing field of academic inquiry and is analyzed from various perspectives and disciplinary backgrounds in International Relations, including global governance research, international law, security and strategic studies, area studies and behavioral sciences. As pointed out in our last blog, around ca. 30 papers on piracy were presented at this year’s annual convention … Read more

Is ATALANTA a Humanitarian Mission?

By Christian Bueger European politicians, diplomats and military persistently argue in public that the EU’s anti-piracy mission ATALANTA is a humanitarian mission. “Protecting the transports of the World Food Programme is the top priority of the operation” is a statement heard frequently. Now, it is true that the frigates of ATALANTA provide safe routes for … Read more

Somali Piracy and the International Response: Trends in 2009 and Prospects for 2010

This first blog entry on Piracy-studies.org summarizes the state of affairs in the international community’s effort to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia. It describes some recent dynamics and tendencies, and portrays some possible future scenarios of the evolution of the piracy challenge and the international engagement in the Gulf of Aden and beyond. … Read more

Gunmen, Fish and Puntland: the Professionalization of Piracy?

A new  “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council resolution 1853” was published on March 10th. The lead author of the report, Mat Bryden, is a well-experienced specialist in Somalia culture and politics. While the report focuses on the development in Somalia more broadly, it entails also some interesting (new) insights … Read more