Aleksa's Book Review: Maritime Piracy and its Control

Definitely true to its name, this book focuses almost autistically on the economic aspect of maritime piracy, particularly in Somalia. The book goes into political vs. economic motivation for engaging in contemporary buccaneering, and arrives at the conclusion that it is not politically motivated no matter how vocal Somali warlords are about it.

There is an interesting segment about the public choice theory that goes into villages deciding whether or not they'll harbour pirates or try to make their living in an approved and taxable way. The calculations that go into it, which I assume most villagers do instinctively and not on paper, are quite extensive and useful for more than just piracy.

Of course, there's a lot of game theory regarding whose interest it's in to enforce the crime of universal jurisdiction which is piracy, and we see a lot of funny stories like the Indian navy recovering a Dutch vessel in Djibouti waters with Philippine crew and Somali pirates. A fun, if somewhat math-heavy book.
6/10