piracy

Somali pirates are back in action. A strong global response is needed

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by Christian Bueger With the military escalation in the Red Sea caused by the Houthi attacks on merchant vessels and ongoing coercion by Iran, the Western Indian Ocean seems further away than ever from its self-declared goal to be a region of peace and prosperity. Growing maritime insecurity is also fed by the persistence of … Read more

New article – how to improve the maritime security architecture in the Western Indian Ocean

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Professor Christian Bueger and Dr. Jan Stockbruegger have conducted a review of the current security situation in the Western Indian Ocean. The study is published in African Security Review. They show which insecurities are on the rise and argue that the rise of geopolitical concerns increasingly produces a militarization dilemma: foreign naval forces are needed … Read more

Using crime script analysis to better understand piracy manifestations

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By Bryan C. Peters Despite the undeniable social relevance of piracy, criminologist have lagged behind other fields in its study. In 2009, Forsyth, Gisclair and Forsyth aptly noted that, “most criminologists are landlocked…as if crime on the water did not exist”. Although interest is slowly growing within the field, the potential utility of criminological theories … Read more

Maritime Security Ideaslab in Copenhagen

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As part of an ongoing collaboration between the University of Sydney and the University of Copenhagen, SafeSeas co-hosted with the Center for Global Criminology an ideaslab on maritime security on the 27th of June 2019. Titled “Insecurity, Crime and Cooperation at Sea”: New Perspectives on Maritime Security” the goal of the day was to explore different ideas from international relations, security studies, and anthropology of how our thinking changes if we initiate inquiry from the sea and not the land. The day provided an opportunity to exchange views on why and how the maritime is a site and a view point from which to explore the social and political differently.

In the background was the observation that the majority of social science disciplines have focused on the land and rather ignored the sea. What has been called “sea blindness”, however, is gradually changing. Increasingly the sea is not taken as an empty void, but understood as a rich space filled with meaning, actions and life. Emerging research challenges the land/sea dichotomy and is interested in connectivity, flows and chokepoints, piracy and other forms of maritime crime, or ports and maritime infrastructures. The six presentations of the day picked up these themes respectively.

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Maritime spill over! Shipping at risk. The global consequences of the conflict in Yemen.

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What started as a small scale rebellion has now become a full-fledged civil war fuelled by external engagements: Yemen’s political futures is more and more uncertain. The country is on the way to a protracted conflict as we have come to know it from the situations in Somalia, Libya and elsewhere. Yemen’s conflict is mainly … Read more

SAFESEAS attends 20th plenary meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy

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From the 5th to 7th of July the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia held its 20th plenary meeting in Mauritius. Christian Bueger and Robert McCabe from the SAFESEAS team participated in the working group meetings and plenary discussions. Dr. Bueger was part of the Seychelles delegation and advised the Chairmen’s team … Read more

Talk at University of Cape Town

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On the 27th of June, SAFESEAS principal investigator Prof. Bueger gave a lecture at the University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Law. Drawing in large parts on an article forthcoming with the European Journal of International Relations, the talk discussed some of the core insights on global security governance that can be developed from the fight against piracy. The … Read more

How do small states influence international counterpiracy policy?

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Ulrik Trolle Smed and Anders Wivel, University of Copenhagen The piracy problem in East Africa gained international attention in particular from 2005 and onwards. In this international setting, Denmark, a small state with strong maritime interests and tradition, experienced a surprising amount of tailwind for its counterpiracy efforts and policy proposals. Small states are traditionally … Read more

NATO’s fight against Somali pirates: the end of an unsung success story

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Last week operation ‘Ocean Shield’ terminated ending NATO’s six year mission to protect the sea lanes of Western Indian Ocean. Will the world miss the operation? Most likely not. Ocean Shields was one of the so-called “big three” missions fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia. Working hand in hand with the U.S.-led Combined Maritime … Read more