Abstract EN:

In the years following the Cold War, East Asia has been characterized by a resurgence of maritime piracy. The situation transcends popular literary images: police reports replace the chronicles of Joseph Conrad; hoodlums and others marginalized by the Asian economic miracle take the place of the proud 19th Century Bugis heroes. Petty bandits and organized crime syndicates employ similar methods, from theft, and hijacking, to kidnapping. As a result, governmental authorities are challenged, and the pillars of the State undermined. Does this plague of crime pose a potentially fatal threat to the current powers in place? By challenging on the high seas the model of political organization inspired by the Treaties of Westphalia, and adopted by the governments of the region, what does piracy reveal about the status of the modern State in East Asia? On the surface, the State may appear to have lost ground and no longer have control over either its territorial waters, targeted by pirates, or the means of combating piracy, which since the early 80s are wielded by competing and often private actors. However, over the long term, piracy has offered States in East Asia an opportunity to reinforce their presence on the regional stage. States have managed to resist, and to take their revenge. Pressed from all sides, States have succeeded in equipping and organizing themselves to impose their authority at sea. Better yet, through regional cooperation, States have tapped new sources of legitimacy and effectiveness. At the conclusion of this Asian fable, which stages the pirate against the State, the more weakened of the two protagonists is perhaps not the one most would expect.