Pirates, merchants and anarchists: Representations of international business

Abstract

This paper considers the relationship between historical and fictional accounts of piracy, and relates them to contemporary issues about the legitimacy of states and global business. I begin by showing how privateers were gradually distinguished into pirates and navies. At the same time, the pirate becomes a character in the popular imagination, a 'trickster' figure on the side of the people, and against authority. The second main section of the paper moves from 'history' to 'representation' and shows how the image of the pirate moved from a wild character on the edge of the world, to a stock cliché for Hollywood swashbucklers. I then investigate the legacy of radical histories and representations of piracy, focussing particularly on the idea of alternative organization on the ship and the pirate utopias on the land. The final section pulls together the historical figure, the stock character and the radical rogue in order to suggest that the pirate can mean what what we want him (or to her) to mean. Nonetheless, the biggest historical irony is that the golden age pirate emerges at the beginnings of international business, and is only wiped out when the state and the businessman strike an alliance that lasts to the present day.2

The Republic of Salé (1627–1641/1666); an alternative pirate organization model?

“…This upholds the idea of a proto-democratic community moving onto the land (Parker 2009), as was also the case of the Republic of Salé.…”

“…This perspective was echoed by other authors, like Parker (2009Parker ( , 2012, and in the 'Dictionary of Alternatives: Utopianism and Organization' (Parker, Fournier, and Reedy 2007) under 'Pirate Utopia' , as well as in many libertarian websites. To back up what he says, apart from some reports by the English emissary John Harrisson, who he presents as an 'English Agent 007' and also referred to by De Castries (1935), Lamborn Wilson (1995) mainly used some secondary historic sources (Caillé 1949;Coindreau 1948;Dan [1637] 1649 ;Brown 1971;essentially Mouette 1683).…”

“…According to Lamborn Wilson (1995) echoed by other authors, including Parker (2009) and the 'Dictionary of Alternatives' (Parker, Fournier, and Reedy 2007) under the entry 'Pirate Utopia' , the pirate Republic of Salé in the seventeenth century, also called the 'Republic of Bou Regreg' was an example of a pirate community: a 'hydrarchy' . In libertarian literature, this term designates the new social order and organization put in place by pirates during their sea voyages.…”

“…2 These Pirates might be a source of innovation in management theory, inspiring it at several levels: It offers a different perspective on understanding capitalism, as pirate organizations were 'operating from the fringes of capitalism to contest the sovereign's norms in the name of a public cause' (Durand and Vergne 2012, 266), a way of challenging dominant models, based on new forms of piracy such as cyber-utopians, cyber-anarchists (Parker 2009), and a source of alternative social/organization models with a democratic managerial organization (Lamborn Wilson 1995;Rediker and Linebaugh 2000;Parker 2002aParker , 2002bParker , 2008Parker , 2009Parker , 2012Reedy 2002;Alvesson and Willmott 2003;Rediker 2004).…”

Editorial: “The Enemies of All Mankind” and, Will the Real Villains Please Stand Up!

“…For a concise and well-written overview of representations of pirates from the eighteenth century through Disney, seeParker (2009).…”