Hillary and the Pirates

Secretary of State Clinton announced a four-point framework for dealing with Somali piracy today, including sending an envoy to the Somali peacekeeping meeting in Brussels; expanding the actions of the International Contact Group on Piracy; sending a diplomatic team to work with the Somali government and regional authorities in Puntland; and working with shippers and insurance companies to beef up defenses against piracy.

Piracy, like terrorism (but, I think, distinct from it, since the motivations are financial rather than political or religious), is hard to solve in part because it stems from social failures. Colin Woodard's terrific history of Caribbean piracy, The Republic of Pirates, charts how the legends of an independent pirate republic, and the inequalities and inadequacies of colonial and British governments were a strong temptation to piracy. Somalia is an entirely different wreck, but it's a wreck none the less, and our interventions there have been less than successful. I don't know how you stop piracy unless you find all the pirates stable, dependable jobs, something that would be hard enough in a global recession, but is even harder when you're trying to build that stability in a failed state.