Modern Piracy and Maritime Terrorism

This Adelphi Paper attempts to answer the question of whether piracy and maritime terrorism, individually or together, present a threat to international security. Since 11 September 2001, some analysts have tended to conflate the two phenomena. One concern is that pirates might help terrorists to capture ships and use them to attack ports. However, while pirates and terrorists often share common ground, they seldom share common cause. The paper finds that it is the generalized problem of disorder at sea, exacerbated by the increasing pressure on littoral waters from increasing numbers of people seeking to exploit maritime resources, that encourages maritime criminality and gives insurgents and terrorists the cover they need to disguise their activities. It is only through dealing with this generalized maritime disorder that the problems of piracy and maritime terrorism may be controlled in the long term.Murphy, Daniel is the author of 'Modern Piracy and Maritime Terrorism', published 2007 under ISBN 9780415452342 and ISBN 0415452341.