Quasi-State Actors . . .

. . . or relatively unsuccessful gangsters? Patrick J. Garrity has an article in the latest issue of the journal Comparative Strategy on the U.S. government's battle against Barbary pirates in the 19th century. It's reviewed here in the Wilson Quaterly.

The war on terror isn’t America’s first battle against an amorphous Muslim “quasi-state.” In its first years of existence, the fledgling United States waged war against the Barbary pirate regencies. Buccaneering was their busi­ness, and the corsairs energetically targeted American merchant ships peacefully ferrying pickled fish and wheat across the Mediterranean.