Romantic Stories of the Pirate in IARRRH: The Failure of Linking Piracy and Terrorism Narratives in Germany

Abstract

The article examines the attempt by some academics, think tanks, and policy advisers to discursively link the threat of contemporary maritime piracy with terrorism. While a linkage between certain threats such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, failed states, or money laundering and terrorism has been successful, the effort to connect the notion of maritime piracy and terrorism has failed to reach the discourse of the media and political elite. The article will investigate the arguments made by the proposers of such a linkage and argue that this failure is not so much down to the “real world” absence of a connection between the phenomena, but is made difficult by the romanticized understandings of the “pirate” found embedded in popular cultural narratives and practices. The article will suggest that culturally embedded narratives of piracy found in books and films have greatly shaped our perceptions of contemporary piracy and ultimately influence and limit what we consider plausible in connection to it. In order to illustrate the points made the article will use the example of the piracy narrative in Germany.

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