My MA thesis, "The Roots of Contemporary Maritime Piracy in Southeast Asia", dealt with several socio-cultural-political aspects of piracy. Including how understanding the complex historical history of piracy in the region is important in trying to understand the root causes of the contemporary flare up in the last 15-20 years. From this more nuanced understanding security analysts may more accurately asses the threat of piracy and prescribe solutions tailored to the region.
Future research will be in two main directions. One, exploring the issue of piracy in Indonesia and attempts to combat it, through the lens of growing East Asian regionalism, US unilateralism, and regional multilateralism. The goal of this research is to place the local phenomenon of Indonesian piracy into a regional and international context of "real politik". The second direction of future research will be aimed at broadening research on piracy beyond narrow concepts of security policy geared toward Track I and Track II diplomacy. Instead, focusing on concepts like human security, regional economic and political development, and lowering the gaze of research down to the village and personal level, thereby trying to include perspectives and voices from "the people". This perspective is important as piracy not only is detrimental to the trust necessary for international trade, but is indicative of socio-economic issues "on the ground" that force a more holistic understandings of security.