Direction for Reading Comprehension: The passages given here are followed by some questions that have four answer choices; read the passage carefully and pick the option whose answer best aligns with the passage
174 incidents of piracy were reported to the International Maritime Bureau last year, with Somali pirates responsible for only three. The rest ranged from the discreet theft of coils of rope in the Yellow Sea to the notoriously ferocious Nigerian gunmen attacking and hijacking oil tankers in the Gulf of Guinea, as well as armed robbery off Singapore and the Venezuelan coast and kidnapping in the Sundarbans in the Bay of Bengal. For [Dr. Peter] Lehr, an expert on modern-day piracy, the phenomenon’s history should be a source of instruction rather than entertainment, piracy past offering lessons for piracy present.... But... where does piracy begin or end? According to St Augustine, a corsair captain once told Alexander the Great that in the forceful acquisition of power and wealth at sea, the difference between an emperor and a pirate was simply one of scale. By this logic, European empire-builders were the most successful pirates of all time. A more eclectic history might have included the conquistadors, Vasco da Gama and the East India Company. But Lehr sticks to the disorganised small fry, making comparisons with the renegades of today possible.
The main motive for piracy has always been a combination of need and greed. Why toil always a starving peasant in the 16th century when a successful pirate made up to £4,000 on each raid? Anyone could turn to freebooting if the rewards were worth the risk....
Increased globalisation has done more to encourage piracy than suppress it. European colonialism weakened delicate balances of power, leading to an influx of opportunists on the high seas. A rise in global shipping has meant rich pickings for freebooters. Lehr writes: “It quickly becomes clear that in those parts of the world that have not profited from globalisation and modernisation, and where abject poverty and the daily struggle for survival are still a reality, the root causes of piracy are still the same as they were a couple of hundred years ago.”...
Modern pirate prevention has failed. After the French yacht Le Gonant was ransomed for $2million in 2008, opportunists from all over Somalia flocked to the coast for a piece of the action.... A consistent rule, even today, is there are never enough warships to patrol pirate-infested waters. Such ships are costly and only solve the problem temporarily; Somali piracy is bound to return as soon as the warships are withdrawn. Robot shipping, eliminating hostages, has been proposed as a possible solution; but as Lehr points out, this will only make pirates switch their targets to smaller carriers unable to afford the technology.
His advice isn’t new. Proposals to end illegal fishing are often advanced but they are difficult to enforce. Investment in local welfare put a halt to Malaysian piracy in the 1970s, but was dependent on money somehow filtering through a corrupt bureaucracy to the poor on the periphery. Diplomatic initiatives against piracy are plagued by mutual distrust: The Russians execute pirates, while the EU and US are reluctant to capture them for fear they’ll claim asylum.
We can deduce that the author believes that piracy can best be controlled in the long run:
Correct Answer :
if we eliminate poverty and income disparities in affected regions.
Solution :
Correct Answer: if we eliminate poverty and income disparities in affected regions.
Detailed Explanation:
To understand why this is the correct choice, let us analyze the passage's arguments regarding the root causes of piracy and the efficacy of various countermeasures:
1. The Root Cause of Piracy: The passage explicitly links piracy to economic deprivation and inequality. It states that the main motive for piracy has always been a combination of "need and greed." Furthermore, Lehr (quoted in the passage) points out that in parts of the world that "have not profited from globalisation and modernisation, and where abject poverty and the daily struggle for survival are still a reality, the root causes of piracy are still the same as they were a couple of hundred years ago." This highlights poverty and lack of economic opportunity as the primary drivers.
2. Failure of Short-term Deterrents and Technology: The text mentions that modern pirate prevention has failed. Deploying warships only solves the problem temporarily, and "Somali piracy is bound to return as soon as the warships are withdrawn." Additionally, technological interventions like "robot shipping" are shown to be inadequate because they will simply cause pirates to "switch their targets to smaller carriers unable to afford the technology."
3. Welfare Schemes vs. Root Causes: While the text mentions that "investment in local welfare put a halt to Malaysian piracy in the 1970s," it also cautions that such initiatives are "dependent on money somehow filtering through a corrupt bureaucracy." This indicates that simple welfare schemes alone are vulnerable and not a robust long-term solution unless the fundamental underlying issues of poverty and income inequality are systematically eliminated.
Therefore, the author implies that to control piracy sustainably in the long run, the global community must address the root socioeconomic issues—namely, by eliminating poverty and income disparities in the affected regions.
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