Maritime piracy: Determining factors and the role of deterrence

ABSTRACT Τhe global economic downturn during the pandemic and the current geopolitical tensions may be marking a resurgence in maritime piracy, rendering close examination of its determinants useful for the international shipping industry and for policymakers. We contribute to pertinent literature by focusing on legal factors that affect sea piracy in Nigeria and Somalia, two countries that feature prominently among the traditional piracy hotspots of West and East Africa respectively. Using data for the period 2002–2020 and panel estimation, we assert prior research by finding institutional factors, mainly corruption, and socioeconomic factors, notably youth unemployment, being conducive to maritime piracy. Specifically, we find institutional factors to be more important for Nigeria, while socioeconomic factors to stand out in the case of Somalia. The results obtained confirm our key hypothesis that in both cases examined pirates have a preference to attack ships with Western European countries’ flags, where legislation tends to be less severe in terms of punishment for the crime of maritime piracy. Our findings support the argument that to discourage pirates from exploiting differences in national legal frameworks worldwide, deterrence of maritime piracy needs to be coordinated at the international level.