Somalia's Pirate Cycle: The Three Phases of Somali Piracy

This paper asks the question of what accounts for the dramatic increase in piracy off the coast of Somalia in recent years. This is accomplished by not only exploring the unprecedented rise of pirate attacks since 2006, but also by tracing the evolution of Somali piracy over the past two decades. This paper demonstrates that between the early 1990s and the present Somali piracy has developed in three distinct phases, which are directly linked to the political situation within the country. Furthermore, these three phases can be viewed in terms of a “cycle of piracy,” based on a theory developed by the historian Philip Gosse (1932). By doing so this paper places Somali piracy within broader political and historical contexts, as well as a theoretical framework.