Naval War College Review Volume 66 Article 14 Number 1 Winter

2013 Maritime Piracy Edward Lucas

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Recommended Citation Lucas, Edward (2013) "Maritime Piracy," Naval War College Review: Vol. 66 : No. 1 , Article 14. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol66/iss1/14

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one particular chapter, this contribu- While this book benefits in many ways tion opens the policy aperture and from an interdisciplinary approach, offers a useful, broad term with which some of its historical analysis is simplis- coherent policy may be developed. tic or inaccurate. For example, the sec- ond Opium War was not fought prin- BRETT J. PATRON Yorktown, Va. cipally because Great Britain felt that Chinese officials had violated its flag- state rights during the famous Arrow incident, as the authors imply. They also attribute the rise in piracy around Hong

Haywood, Robert, and Roberta Spivak. Maritime Kong in the mid-nineteenth century Piracy. New York: Routledge, 2012. 184pp. $125 solely to the fact that the Royal Navy re- fused to intervene against pirates unless The resurgence of maritime piracy has British interests were directly involved. generated a renewed interest in the This is a gross oversimplification of the subject across a number of different issue. Such slips are perhaps unavoid- disciplines, including law, history, and able in a relatively short text that ranges security studies. Robert Haywood and from Bronze Age maritime history to Roberta Spivak’s work draws from each best-management practices on board of these fields to provide a succinct contemporary merchant vessels, but the overview of the issues surrounding both authors may have been overly selective contemporary piracy and counterpiracy in their historical account to add cred- operations. The authors, both affiliated ibility to their policy recommendations. with the Oceans beyond Piracy project, focus on how pirates are able to operate That being said, this work is a valuable in the twenty-first century in the face addition to the growing literature on of all the advances in military technol- contemporary maritime piracy. By cov- ogy. Their answer highlights ineffective ering a wide array of different topics, it governance at the local and global levels, serves as an excellent starting point for as well as outdated institutions and laws researchers interested in specific aspects meant to deal with piracy. These fail- of the subject. Furthermore, many of ings have created gaps in the interna- the policy recommendations will be of tional system that have allowed piracy value to those interested in maritime se- to flourish over the past several decades. curity in general. Although some read- The authors provide a number of policy ers may disagree with the authors’ belief recommendations to help quell the that international organizations like the threat. One recurring theme is the need United Nations can play leading roles in for a global reform of the merchant- suppressing piracy, these policy recom- vessel registry system. Historically, flag mendations merit consideration be- states have borne a large share of the cause of their originality and ingenuity.

responsibility for suppressing piracy. EDWARD LUCAS Since the end of World War II, how- American University ever, open-registry states, also known Washington, D.C. as “flags of convenience,” have under- mined this line of defense against piracy.

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