After reading the Epilogue of Jay Bahadur’s Somalia Pirates I have realized that the pirates of Somalia have changed from being fishermen trying to protect their waters to warlord led gangs attacking any vessel that comes through their water. They have blossomed into maritime trade professionals, with an expanding capital base and a logistical and navigational sophistication that has allowed them to strike deep in the Indian Ocean, hundreds of kilometers beyond the reach of the international naval forces. Piracy has become a lucrative business for all that are involved. Local business men invest in the pirate gangs with the intention of receiving a profit after the pirates hijack a ship. These business men fund the entire operation. Piracy is like any other business with equal amounts of shareholders joining together, each bringing his own guns and food. Finally there is a private equity model consists of an individual who first raises capital from a number of willing investors, then proceeds to organize and direct the mission. The majority of the pirate gangs’ work on straight commission meaning if you do not capture a boat you do not get paid. This type of work can be very lucrative but if you can’t find work it can be counterproductive. If a gang is unable to find work their trips turn from hijacks to mere cruises in the Gulf of Aden (Bahadur, 2011).
They international organizations cannot discredit the Somali pirates as just a bunch of simple minded people attacking ships. They have become much more organized. The payoffs continue to be on the rise and rival organizations, clan militias and even Somali Islamist groups will be increasingly tempted to rip off successful pirate groups. This may provoke the pirates to coalesce, and the threat may be a more permanent criminal syndicates and standing armies. The pirates could possibly turn into an Italian mafia style business, complete with infighting, turf wars and mob hits (Bahadur, 2011).
Since the pirates of Somalia seem to have a well thought out economic structure, do you plan on comparing them to a company? This might be an interesting idea to pursue.
ReplyDeleteSo the Somali Islamist group are a different type of pirates? or are they just a separate entity that try to capture the 'booty' from the Somali pirates?
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