Piracy and Privateers in the Golden Age: Lessons for Today

IF 1.3 3区社会学 Q2 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Ocean Development and International Law Pub Date : 2018-06-20 DOI:10.1080/00908320.2018.1479369

P. Hallwood, Thomas J. Miceli

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

ABSTRACT Customary international law has governed high seas piracy for many centuries and is now codified in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC). In this article, we discuss the reasons why enforcement against piracy today is less effective than three hundred years ago. We contend that crime, including the crime of piracy, can be modeled as a rational choice that is responsive to expected rewards and punishments. Based on this view, we argue that three hundred years ago, the free rider problem resulting from enforcement on the high seas was less prevalent than it is today because seaborne trade was more concentrated in the vessels of a few countries, making enforcement more like internal than international policing. The persistence of piracy today also stems from a continuing low probability of capture coupled with lenient punishments. In addition to enforcement differences, we contrast the sources of piracy in the two eras—in the earlier period, the end of privateering led many privateers to engage in piracy, whereas today, the main source of pirates in the Western Indian Ocean is the existence of a “failed state,” and off West Africa and South East Asia pirates are common criminals.

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黄金时代的海盗和私掠者:今天的教训

几个世纪以来，习惯国际法一直管辖着公海海盗行为，现在已被纳入《联合国海洋法公约》(LOSC)。在这篇文章中，我们讨论了为什么今天打击盗版的执法不如三百年前有效的原因。我们认为，犯罪，包括海盗犯罪，可以被建模为一种理性的选择，是对预期的奖励和惩罚的反应。基于这一观点，我们认为，300年前，公海执法造成的搭便车问题没有今天那么普遍，因为海上贸易更多地集中在少数国家的船只上，这使得执法更像是国内而不是国际警务。海盗行为持续存在的另一个原因是，被抓获的可能性一直很低，加上惩罚从轻。除了执法方面的差异，我们还对比了两国海盗行为的来源——早期，私掠行为的结束导致许多私掠者从事海盗活动，而今天，西印度洋海盗的主要来源是一个“失败国家”的存在，而西非和东南亚海盗是常见的罪犯。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Ocean Development and International Law Multiple-

CiteScore

2.00

自引率

8.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Ocean Development and International Law is devoted to all aspects of international and comparative law and policy concerning the management of ocean use and activities. It focuses on the international aspects of ocean regulation, ocean affairs, and all forms of ocean utilization. The journal publishes high quality works of scholarship in such related disciplines as international law of the sea, comparative domestic ocean law, political science, marine economics, geography, shipping, the marine sciences, and ocean engineering and other sea-oriented technologies. Discussions of policy alternatives and factors relevant to policy are emphasized, as are contributions of a theoretical and methodological nature.