By Alexandros Sainidis

Wealth, fame, power. This is what small English farmers and tradesmen sought when they were pushed away by land owners and large businesses. With no other hope, many viewed piracy and its lucrative prospects as a solution. Today – meaning for the last two decades – pirates sound funny whenever they hit the headlines. The image of a parrot on the shoulder of a pirate is no match to an Artificial Intelligence system that can repeat far more words and identify military targets. And if parrots cannot win against AI, what can a buccaneer do against a soldier in an exoskeleton? Only that this is simply a pop representation of what pirates are. In reality, pirates are not obsolete – they are a phenomenon that developed along capitalism and globalization. 

Why are pirates connected to capitalism? 
When we hear capitalism, we mostly think of production. Contrary to this misconception, distribution is equally important – structurally important. For example, Russia is not the only producer of natural gas. Despite that, because it is much harder to transport something in the form of gas (it takes a lot of space relative to the quantity that needs to be purchased), gas pipelines are needed. As they are very expensive to build, competitors struggle to build alternative pipelines. This gives a huge structural advantage to Russia.

The same applies to the high seas and distribution through maritime trade routes. It is, structurally, much harder for states to display power at sea, due to its vastness and the mobility of vessels. Partly because of that, pirates were also used by states for protection, raiding and looting, in the form of privateers – like mercenaries. 

Moreover, the timing of the Golden Age of Piracy in the 17th century matches the beginning(s) of capitalism as we know it today, right before the Industrial Revolution. It makes sense – for piracy to thrive, there needs to be a larger volume of commercial vessels to take over. And some nations are paying for protection, even in the form of hiring. For profit – blood is not always spilled. This matches the emerging, more sophisticated view of risk and insurance of the era.  

Hostis Humanis Generis 
Then, the power of the British Empire became a catalyst for change. With increasing naval power and better technology, the process of globalization intensified, essentially making the space separating humans smaller, including the sea. This change also coincides with the abolition of slavery. Apart from the moral and humanitarian character of the abolition, it had obvious economic consequences. Roughly said – it decreased the advantages of actors producing labor-intensive goods in favor of capital-intensive producers of the industrial age. The interaction with the structure of the sea began to change allowing naval powers to drown piracy, labelling pirates as hostis humanis generis or enemies of all mankind in International Law. 

From that point onward, power became quite state-centered. The same steam that was multiplying production was also used in warships, becoming one of the early indicators of energy importance. However, technology matures. In the modern era the importance of pirates and pirate-like non-state actors grew, exploiting movements such as the Spread of Small Arms (with little effort even a normal citizen can acquire an AK-47). The incentives are also here; not too different from the ones attracting poor farmers and tradesmen. The most notorious pirates of today are from Somalia, threatening the Red Sea – and Somalia is a relatively poor country, a direct result of global inequalities. 

Where are the thoughts sailing?
Even today, the sea is highly profitable for every side. For instance, the Greek Maritime Industry has been offering great compensation to employees, disregarding the repeating economic blows since 2008. Pirates risk their safety highly but are also compensated well, having access to robust black markets. Mercenaries, as today’s privateers, are also paid quite well to protect trading routes as much as possible.

Driven by inequality, pirates capitalize on trading routes too, through the use of force. They are far from being an unwanted piece of history. Simply asking the question “unwanted by whom?” reveals the answer: great, commercial and naval powers. In an otherwise win-lose situation, Humanis or humanity is a veil creating an assumption of common interest.

As long as we remember the rules of competition, we may place two points to remember. 
One – We should ask whose interests do modern pirates truly satisfy. The same applies to proxies with some characteristics of pirates, such as Houthis. 
Two – We should, perhaps, be sceptical about the motivations of states actively getting involved in regions plagued by piracy by their own initiative.   

References

1. Bastien Olvera, G. M. (2014). The security council and the illegal transfer of small arms and light weapons to non-state actors. Mexican Law Review, 6(2), 225-250. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1870-0578(16)30013-0 
2. Kamola, I. (2018). Pirate capitalism, or the primitive accumulation of capital itself. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 47(1), 3-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829818771525
3. Niall Ferguson, P.J. Marshall, Robert E. Lucas, Jr., Andrew Porter, and Andrew J. Bacevich (2003). The British Empire and Globalization. The Historical Society.  Retrieved from: https://www.bu.edu/historic/hs/april03.html 
4. Royal Museums Greenwich (n.d.). The Golden Age of Piracy. Retrieved from: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/golden-age-piracy 
5. Strange, S. (2015). States and Markets. Bloomsbury Academic.
6. United Nations Security Council. (2021, October 7). Rapid spread of small arms, light weapons still threatening world peace, exacerbating plight of civilians in conflict zones, Disarmament Chief tells Security Council. ReliefWeb. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/rapid-spread-small-arms-light-weapons-still-threatening-world-peace-exacerbating-plight 
7. Zinn Education Project. (n.d.). Aug. 1, 1834: Britain passes slavery abolition act. Retrieved from https://zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/britain-slavery-abolition-act/