BEYOND THE JOLLY ROGER: UNDERSTANDING PIRACY'S ROLE IN DISRUPTING INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Abstract

The dissertation transcends the conventional understanding of piracy as the archetypal foe of all nations to expose the complex interplay between security discourses, racial politics, and economic imperatives in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The study unveils how piracy operated as a catalyst for redefining the logic governing the IOR to allow it to emerge as a unique space of exception that facilitated the movement of goods, people, and data vital to the liberal economy. Risk technologies introduced to counter the threat of piracy contributed to the circulation of images of the modern pirate as dangerous coloured bodies in Indian Ocean further influencing political decision-making. Perceived as jobless and unemployable, ‘pirates’ were transformed into “death-subjects” - valuable only when dead.