What To Do About Piracy?

Piracy, a  scourge that  had been  largely stamped out  in the  19th century, still  flourishes in  those Hobbesian  areas of the world where  order and  the “rule  of law” do not exist. The seizure  of  a  U.S.-flagged  vessel,  the  Maersk  Alabama, earlier this  month and  the subsequent rescue of the ship’s captain by  the U.S.  Navy has alerted Americans to the fact that Somalia  and its  coast is such an area. Ever since the collapse of  the Somali  government in  1991, it  has been a particularly stark  example of  what is now called a “failed state.”