Turning the Tide: Piracy and State Transformation in Somalia

This thesis asks: to what extent has piracy shaped the political order in Somalia? It examines how pirate activity along the Somali coast has become a mechanism for effecting change in the hybrid political conditions the coastal regions between 2005-2015. Through a focus on the collective action of the pirates, the thesis examines how pirates shape their encounters with other actors, where these interactions take place, and what the outcome of these interactions produce in terms of political order. It argues that through these negotiations, piracy has gradually become a means of political reordering, recasting pirates as political actors.