It’s a Pirate’s Life for Some: The Development of an Illegal Industry in Response to an Unjust Global Power Dynamic

This Note discusses the domestic and international economic effects of the recent surge of piracy off the coast of Somalia, and uses Somali piracy as a method of exploring conflicting ideological conditions that arise from globalization. In exploring the underlying motivations for this trend, it identifies a dichotomy between primary needs satisfaction within underdeveloped nations and the satisfaction of secondary interests in developed nations, and explains how globalization may be exacerbating the turn toward piracy. This Note first discusses the recent rise in piracy and then explores how the contemporary history of Somalia has engendered the upsurge. Next, it considers how piracy has influenced the economy of coastal Somalia, followed by a look at the ideological intersection between primary domestic interests and secondary global interests. Finally, this Note explores some of the international implications of the rise of piracy in Africa, and whether further expansion is a possibility.