I thought this article would be about the fact that most piracy was not restricted to the 17th/18th century Caribbean, but that does seem to be the time period this article primarily focuses on. But piracy still exists. Somalian piracy was big in the news a couple of years ago, and there's plenty of piracy elsewhere in the world. The most successful pirate in history was not any of the famous Caribbean pirates, but Chinese Zheng Yi Sao, who commanded a fleet of hundreds or pirate ships in the South China Sea in the 19th century, and even had the British and Chinese navies ask her for peace.

Of course it makes sense that pirates need a community to support them, because where else will they live, retire, sell their loot, etc? I imagine especially economic inequality, with communities left out of the profits of profitable trade, can make piracy an attractive way to even the score. But I also think there's a lot that can be said about the many different drivers of piracy, from desperation (a crew driven to mutiny against a tyrannical captain), to opportunity, war, or even a profitable business model or nation building.