Spain's Fight Against Maritime Piracy: The Legitimacy of Maritime Security Governance

Abstract

: The rise of piracy in the Indian Ocean in the first decade of the 21st century prompted international action to protect civilian vessels. This article examines the case of Spain, a major European protagonist in the fight against piracy, leading maritime security governance with official as well as private security forces. It explains Spain's twin-fold approach to counter-piracy, participating through its armed forces in the European Union's Operation Atalanta and deploying armed private security personnel on civilian vessels, an approach with strong support in Spain, but controversial in other European countries. This analysis emphasizes sources of legitimacy, and shows that the two-fold strategy has a high output-legitimacy, supported by interested groups and the Spanish public. Use of both official and private security forces is perceived as the best way to protect lives and national economic interests. Other major European maritime countries – including France, Germany and Netherlands – struggled with these problems, gradually shifting to emulate the Spanish solution. These findings support theoretical assumptions about output-legitimacy; a policy gains legitimacy if involved actors consider it the best way to solve the problem.