PRINT-The Pirates of Somalia by Jay Bahadur

Jay Bahadur's The Pirates of Somalia is one part adventure travelogue and one part socio-political commentary. In 2009 and 2010, Jay risked his life to travel to Somalia to chew khat and learn about Somali piracy. My interest in the book stemmed from a larger interest in the subject of anarchy. The book was incredibly interesting and eye opening.

Somalia is not precisely an anarchy. It lacks a central government, but it is governed locally. This would be like abolishing the federal government in the USA but leaving state governments behind to do their thing. In Somalia, these local governments are largely a joke. Without a large tax base, strong government is not possible.

Piracy was a response to the loss of fishing as a viable industry as foreign fleets came in and overfished. This was the initial reason, but it is obvious from the book that this reason is not valid but mere PR for the pirates. Piracy is lucrative for them, and Bahadur goes into painstaking detail on profits, losses, and the economics of the trade. This book is Paul Theroux meets Freakonomics. Like Freakonomics, Bahadur discovers that piracy is not so lucrative for the foot soldiers and grunts but is very lucrative for the pirate lords in much the same way that drug lords in the USA are prosperous while their grunts make less than the minimum wage.

My interest in the book was primarily political since libertarians get hit with the anarchy in Somalia argument. Without a doubt, there is less government in Somalia, but it is not Hong Kong. They have Toyota SUVs and cellphones in Somalia, but they also have large amounts of crime. This is why I favor minarchy over anarchy because I see government as being indispensable to creating a sphere of order for the free market to operate in its most optimal state.

It is a fascinating book, and I recommend it for anyone interested in Somalia.

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