Private security, maritime piracy and the provision of international public safety

Abstract

Private solutions to personal protection and property rights often evolve in environments that are weakly institutionalized. In this vein, we examine the effect of private maritime security on international public safety—through the reduction of piracy and its related risks—by analyzing International Maritime Organization vessel security data from 2007 to 2014. We find that private security generates a direct effect on vessel safety, significantly reducing piracy-related risk, but also generating an external effect of private security, whereby as little as 10% of all attacked vessels being privately secured significantly reduces the risk of an attack against unsecured vessels both contemporaneously and in the future. This research contributes to our knowledge of the private provision of public safety by displaying how the risk and uncertainty borne from employing private security can nearly eradicate piracy.