Somali piracy has been linked repeatedly to the spectre of Barbary. Piracy off the Horn of Africa has certainly raged with the intensity of a perfect storm with the spread of conflict and disorder. The purpose of this book is to examine whether or not state failure is a useful and accurate explanation for Somali piracy and if violent Islamism could exploit what the pirates have achieved for their own ends. It reviews the history, motivation, organization, criminal methods and operational tactics of the Somali pirates from their first manifestations in the mid-1990s to the present. It attempts to show that their activities and their fortunes are linked to the rise and fall of political groups within Somalia. It asks why and how violent Islamist groups operate within Somalia and the degree to which they might exploit the maritime dimension in the future. Finally it reviews whether or not the political and military solutions being practised or proposed currently will resolve either problem.

The escalation of piracy in the waters east and south of Somalia has led commentators to call the area the new Barbary, but the Somali pirates cannot compare to the three hundred years of terror supplied by the Barbary corsairs in the Mediterranean and beyond. From 1500 to 1800, Muslim pirates from the Barbary Coast of North Africa captured and enslaved more than a million Christians. Lords of the Sea relates the history of these pirates, examining their dramatic impact as the maritime vanguard of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1500s through their breaking from Ottoman control in the early seventeenth century. Alan Jamieson explores how the corsairs rose to the apogee of their powers during this period, extending their activities from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic and venturing as far as England, Ireland, and Iceland. Serving as a vital component of the main Ottoman fleet, the Barbary pirates also conducted independent raids of Christian ships and territory. While their activities declined after 1700, Jamieson reveals that it was only in the early nineteenth century that Europe and the United States finally curtailed the Barbary menace, a fight that culminated in the French conquest of Algiers in 1830. A welcome addition to military history, Lords of the Sea is an engrossing tale of exploration, slavery, and conquest.

Named a "Notable Naval Book of 2012" by Proceedings magazine, Pirate Alley is now available in paperback. The book provides an in-depth look at every aspect of Somali piracy, from how the pirates operate to how the actions of a relative handful of youthful criminals and their bosses have impacted the world economy. It explores the debate over the recently adopted practice of putting armed guards aboard merchant ships, and focuses on the best management practices that are changing the ways that ships are outfitted for travel through what’s known as the High-Risk Area. Readers will learn that the consequence of protecting high quality targets such as container ships and crude oil carriers may be that pirates turn to crime on land, such as the kidnapping of foreigners.

Piracy is no longer an archaic problem. This analysis of the legal issues surrounding the repression of piracy and armed robbery at sea assesses whether the existing legal regime can effectively counter piracy in the modern age.

Two global peace nomads, Fatima Jibrell, a Somali environmentalist and peace activist, and James Lindsay, a retired Australian diplomat, wandered all over the geographic Horn of Africa promoting solar stoves. Fatima and James visited places where no one had ever been with a camera. The title of their book of photographs is Peace and Milk (Nabad iyo Caano in Somali), Scenes from Northern Somalia. The title comes from the traditional Somali response to the greeting: Ma nabad baa? (Is there peace?), which is Nabad iyo caano (Peace and milk). Peace and Milk reveals the beauty and variety of the Somali landscape, where a centuries-old pastoral way of life is under threat due to climate change, deforestation and the production of charcoal. Photographs of landscapes, people, camels, pastoral life, charcoal and solar alternatives tell a compelling visual story of a disappearing nomadic life style. Informative captions tell the stories behind the photographs and provide an insight into Somali life.

In the early modern period, hundreds of thousands of Europeans, both male and female, were abducted by pirates, sold on the slave market, and enslaved in North Africa. Between the sixteenth and the early nineteenth centuries, pirates from Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco not only attacked sailors and merchants in the Mediterranean but also roved as far as Iceland. A substantial number of the European captives who later returned home from the Barbary Coast, as maritime North Africa was then called, wrote and published accounts of their experiences. These popular narratives greatly influenced the development of the modern novel and autobiography, and they also shaped European perceptions of slavery as well as of the Muslim world. Barbary Captives brings together a selection of early modern slave narratives in English translation for the first time. It features accounts written by men and women across three centuries and in nine different languages that recount the experience of capture and servitude in North Africa. These texts tell the stories of Christian pirates, Christian rowers on Muslim galleys, house slaves in the palaces of rulers, domestic servants, agricultural slaves, renegades, and social climbers in captivity. They also depict liberation through ransom, escape, or religious conversion. This book sheds new light on the social history of Mediterranean slavery and piracy, early modern concepts of unfree labor, and the evolution of the Barbary captivity narrative as a literary and historical genre.

In 2009, the United States was hit broadside by Somali pirates who attempted to capture the U.S. flag ship Maersk Alabama. Suddenly, the pirates were no longer a distant menace. They had thrust themselves onto the American stage. Are the Somali pirates a legion of desperate fisherman attacking cargo ships and ocean cruisers to reclaim their waters? Or is piracy connected to crime networks and the madness that grips Somalia? What threats do pirates pose to international security? To answer these questions, Peter Eichstaedt crisscrosses East Africa, meeting with pirates both in and out of prisons, talking with them about their lives, tactics, and motives. Ultimately, he comes face-to-face with a former fighter with Somalia's brutal Islamic al-Shabaab militia. He discovers that piracy is a symptom of a much deeper problem: Somalia itself. Pirate State explores the links between the pirates, global financiers, and extremists who control southern Somalia and whose influence extends across the Gulf of Aden into Yemen and connects to extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Somali pirates are desperate and dangerous men who will do just about anything for money, and Pirate State argues that turning a blind eye to piracy and the problems of Somalia is inviting a disaster of horrific proportions.

The recent surge in piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia has triggered an international response which is unprecedented in terms of the number of actors involved. The International Response to Somali Piracy presents a comprehensive treatment of the international response to Somali piracy, exploring current initiatives to counter the piracy threat, both operationally and legally. Moreover, the book analyzes the regional and broader international context within which these initiatives are taken, and identifies the challenges and opportunities for international cooperation on fighting piracy at sea. This volume brings together experts from a great variety of different backgrounds and disciplines.

A thoughtful examination of the human security issues dominating the national security agenda, characterized by civic, economic, environmental, maritime, health, and cyber challenges

“In his lively, vivid history of pirates, Lehr finds some striking continuities from ancient to modern times.” —Foreign Affairs A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year In the twenty-first century, pirates have regained a central place in Western culture, thanks to an odd combination of a blockbuster film franchise and a dramatic rise in piracy around the Horn of Africa. In this global history of the phenomenon, maritime terrorism and piracy expert Peter Lehr casts fresh light on pirates. Ranging from the Vikings and Wako pirates in the Middle Ages to modern-day Somali pirates, Lehr delves deep into what motivates pirates and how they operate. He also illuminates the state’s role in the development of piracy throughout history: from privateers sanctioned by Queen Elizabeth to pirates operating off the coast of Africa taking the law into their own hands. After exploring the structural failures that create fertile ground for pirate activities, Lehr evaluates the success of counter-piracy efforts—and the reasons behind its failures. “Informative and often entertaining . . . Lehr traces the global history of piracy, quoting judiciously from an array of historians and sources to make his case” —The Times “Groundbreaking . . . provides a detailed analysis of the causes of piracy [and] reveals the operations of pirates ignored in most previous histories.” —David Cordingly, author of Under the Black Flag “Policymakers would do well to read it, as would aspiring pirates in search of career advice.” —Financial Times