The London School of Economics and Political Science the Ideological Origins of Piracy in International Legal Thought Tor Krever
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The London School of Economics and Political Science The ideological origins of piracy in international legal thought Tor Krever A thesis submitted to the Department of Law of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, May 2018 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 88,133 words. 2 Abstract This thesis explores the origins of the pirate in international legal thought. It takes as its starting point the recent wave of piracy off the coast of Somalia, mapping the image of the pirate constructed by contemporary legal commentators. The figure of the pirate that takes shape is the archetype of illegitimacy and epitome of enmity in international law: hostis humani generis. Where and when did this figure first emerge in international legal thought? My argument is twofold. First, against dominant transhistorical accounts which project the pirate backwards in an unbroken arc from the present to antiquity, I show that its juridical identity has been marked by fundamental discontinuities and transformations. Second, I locate the construction of a distinctly modern figure of the pirate in the emergence of a capitalist world economy in the long 16th century. The pirate’s universal enmity, I suggest, was initially religious in nature, an ideology rooted in inter-imperial rivalries confronting Habsburg Spain with Ottoman, in the Mediterranean, and Protestant, in the Atlantic, threats to a universalising Christendom. With the development of an early capitalist economy and the growing coincidence of imperial interests with trade, the image of the pirate began to change. In the work of Grotius, I argue, its enmity was transformed, the pirate rendered not as religious foe, but as enemy of a universal right to commerce. It is this new secular figure of enmity, the thesis concludes, that is produced and reproduced in modern legal thought. 3 Acknowledgments This dissertation could not have been possible without the support of numerous friends and colleagues. Susan Marks was a model supervisor, endlessly insightful and always encouraging. I am extremely grateful for her unstinting support. Teresa Cravo has been a constant source of inspiration. With incredible patience and intelligence, she helped rethink the dissertation several times over. Robert Knox has been a steadfast friend and comrade and an invaluable interlocutor. The pages that follow bear the stamp of all three and I owe each a great intellectual debt. Countless others have provided assistance along the way and I cannot possibly list them all here. The idea to write about the history of piracy in international law was sparked by a conversation with Duncan Kennedy many years ago. Stephen Humphreys provided valuable comments on early chapters. I benefited from discussions at various stages with, amongst others, Tony Anghie, Alex Colas, Liam Campling, David Chandler, Maddy Chaim, Matt Craven, Louis Eslava, Christopher Gevers, Devika Hovell, Bernard Keenan, Paavo Kotiaho, Vidya Kumar, Chase Madar, Linda Mulcahy, Rose Parfitt, Christina Schwöbel-Patel, Gerry Simpson, Owen Taylor, Nuno Teles, and Keina Yoshida. I have presented parts of the dissertation at various conferences over the past several years and I am grateful to all who offered comments and criticisms. I am thankful for the support and patience of colleagues at LSE, the University of Coimbra and the University of Warwick and to my fellow editors at the London Review of International Law. I am also thankful for the assistance provided by librarians and staff at LSE, Harvard Law School, the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra, and the British Library. At LSE, Rachel Yarham’s repeated assistance was especially invaluable. The research undertaken for this dissertation was made possible by scholarships from LSE and the Modern Law Review. My parents, Rita Stein and Rick Krever, have been a constant source of support, as has my brother Joshua Krever. Finally, but most importantly, I must once more thank Teresa Cravo. Infinitely selfless, she has been a pillar of strength and none of what I have achieved could be possible without her. This dissertation is for her, and our children Sofia and Diogo. 4 Table of Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................... 7 A figure of enmity .............................................................................................. 9 Historicising the pirate ...................................................................................... 11 Chapter outline .................................................................................................. 20 1 The pirate in modern international legal thought ....................................... 23 Captain Phillips and the cinematic depiction of pirates .................................... 26 Somalia’s ‘enemies of mankind’ ...................................................................... 31 International legal thought ................................................................................ 36 In search of the origins of enmity ..................................................................... 42 2 The pirate of the ancients compared with that of the moderns .................. 45 Comparing historical phenomena ..................................................................... 47 The Archaic period ........................................................................................... 49 Classical Greece ................................................................................................ 51 The Hellenistic period ....................................................................................... 53 The Roman world ............................................................................................. 55 The pirate of antiquity ...................................................................................... 64 3 Depredation in the medieval Mediterranean ............................................... 66 Merchant capitalism and inter-state rivalry ...................................................... 68 The pirate in the medieval Mediterranean ........................................................ 72 Legitimate and illegitimate plunder .................................................................. 77 Theorising reprisals .......................................................................................... 81 ‘A sequence of mutual reprisals’ ...................................................................... 86 4 The pirate, the devil and universal enmity ................................................... 89 Muslim pirates and Christian knights ............................................................... 92 The Ottoman threat ........................................................................................... 95 A universal enemy ............................................................................................ 97 ‘Of the devil’: Ottomans in the European imagination .................................. 100 ‘Enemyes of the Christen fayth’: Barbary pirates at the Ottoman vanguard .. 108 The baños of Barbary: pirates and captivity ................................................... 112 ‘Turning Turk’ and the threat to Christian souls ............................................ 115 The Barbary pirate in legal thought ................................................................ 119 The pirate as figure of religious enmity .......................................................... 130 5 The pirate in the New World ....................................................................... 134 Drake in the Spanish imagination ................................................................... 136 Enemies in the New World ............................................................................. 139 Christendom under siege ................................................................................ 142 5 Protestant pirates ............................................................................................. 145 English attitudes towards depredation at sea .................................................. 151 Plunder in the service of empire ..................................................................... 157 A new imperial formation ............................................................................... 161 6 The pirate as universal enemy of commerce .............................................. 163 A new kind of state ......................................................................................... 166 Dutch commercial expansion ......................................................................... 171 A clash of imperialisms .................................................................................. 173 Justifying plunder ..........................................................................................