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The perceived threat of 'transnational organized crime' to Western societies has been of huge interest to politicians, policy makers and social scientists over the last decade. This book considers the origins of this crime, how it has been defined and measured and the appropriateness of governments' policy responses. The contributors argue that while serious harm is often caused by transnational criminal activity - for example, the trafficking in human beings - the construction of that criminal activity as an external threat obscures the origins of these crimes in the markets for illicit goods and services within the 'threatened' societies. As such, the authors question the extent to which global crime can be controlled through law enforcement initiatives, and alternative policy initiatives are considered. The authors also question whether transnational organised crime will retain its place on the policy agendas of the United Nations and European Union in the wake of the 'War on Terror'. Part 1: Origins of the Concept Part 2: Measurements and Interpretations Part 3: Case Studies Part 4: Current and Prospective Responses Adam Edwards is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University. Peter Gill is Reader in Politics and Security at the School of Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University. 'A significant contribution in the field of criminology.' - Global Crime

Transnational Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean: From Evolving Threats and Responses to Integrated, Adaptive Solutions provides a comprehensive overview of and introduction to transnational organized crime in Latin America for the student and practitioner. It addresses the geography of illicit activities, including relationships between source, transit, and consumption zones, as well as illicit activities beyond narcotrafficking, such as illegal mining, contraband, human smuggling, and money laundering. It applies a typology of cartels, intermediate groups, gangs, and ideological groups to examine specific criminal organizations and the relationships between them. It makes a comparative assessment of government approaches to combatting transnational organized crime in the region, including discussions of interagency coordination, interdiction, targeting of criminal group leaders, the use of the military in law enforcement, law enforcement reform efforts, prison control, and international cooperation. It concludes by applying these thorough analyses to make concrete recommendations for both Latin American and United States policymakers.

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. That at least is the fear, inspired by stories of Russian mobsters in New York, Chinese triads in London, and Italian mafias throughout the West.

The post-Cold War world has seen the emergence of new kinds of security threats. Whilst traditionally security threats were perceived of in terms of military threats against a state, non-traditional security threats are those that pose a threat to various internal competencies of the state and its identity both home and abroad. The European Union and the United States have identified Latin American cocaine trafficking as a security threat, but their policy responses to it have differed. This book examines the ways in which the EU and the US have conceptualized this threat. Furthermore, it explores the impact of cocaine trafficking on four state functions - economic, political, public order and diplomatic - in order to explain why it has become 'securitized'. Appealing to a variety of university courses, this book is especially relevant to security studies and European and US policy analysis, as well as criminology and sociology.

This article examines illegal ivory trade in Uganda, which constitutes a major transport route through which ivory exits Africa. The analysis is based on empirical data collected among illegal ivory traders between 2012 and 2017. The findings unpack the notion of illegal ivory trade as ‘transnational organized crime’, by showing its reliance on local and regional connections, in which ‘nodes’ are crucial. These nodes can be both traders (such as middlemen), and locations (such as border towns), connecting these various levels. In doing so, it shows how this trade functions in a decentralized and loose fashion. There are clear power differences between the traders, which is explained through the kind of connections with government officials.

Contrary to widespread belief, human trafficking operations are characterized by significant costs, particularly monitoring costs, and diseconomies of scale. How do traffickers achieve high capacity in their operations? This paper is an empirical in-depth study of the structure and activities of a large-scale human trafficking ring operating between Nigeria and Europe. It is based on a set of novel data sets that was manually coded and analyzed using network analysis techniques, and it shows that high trafficking capacity is associated with a high level of externalization of activities. Offenders mostly act as independent agents, in a similar way to contractors. The trafficking ring does not appear to be run along ethnic or family lines, but what does emerge is a rather clear division of labour and role specialization. Finally, this paper contributes to the broader debate on coordination in illegal settings and puts into question the idea that transnational crime is invariably best fought transnationally.

Illicit Flows and Criminal Things offers a new perspective on illegal transnational linkages, international relations, and the transnational. The contributors argue for a nuanced approach that recognizes the difference between organized crime and the thousands of illicit acts that take place across national borders every day. They distinguish between the illegal (prohibited by law) and the illicit (socially perceived as unacceptable), which are historically changeable and contested. Detailed case studies of arms smuggling, illegal transnational migration, the global diamond trade, borderland practices, and the transnational consumption of drugs take us to Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, and North America. They allow us to understand how states, borders, and the language of law enforcement produce criminality, and how people and goods which are labeled illegal move across regulatory spaces.

This book examines the trans-border connections between militant and criminal networks and the relationship between these and the states in which they operate. \"\"Unholy alliances\"\" is a term used to describe hybrid trans-border militant and criminal networks that pose serious threats to security in Europe and elsewhere. Identity networks provide the basis for militant organizations using violent strategies - insurgency and terrorism - for political objectives. To gain funds and weapons militant networks may establish criminal enterprises, or align with existing trans-border criminal and financial networks. This book extends the concept of unholy alliances to include the trans-state criminal syndicates that arise in failed and dysfunctional states, exemplified by Serbia and Bulgaria during their post-Communist transitions. To deal with this complex and unconventional subject, the authors develop a theoretical framework that looks at four kinds of factors conditioning the interaction between the political and the criminal: trans-state identity networks, armed conflict, the balance of market opportunities and constraints, and the role of unstable and corrupt states. The volume also examines actors at two levels of analysis: the structure and activities of militant (and/or criminal) networks, and the policies of state actors that shape and reshape the interaction of opportunities and constraints. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism, insurgency, transnational crime, war and conflict studies, and IR in general.

The Center for Complex Operations (CCO) has produced this edited volume, Convergence: Illicit Networks and National Security in the Age of Globalization, that delves deeply into everything mentioned above and more. In a time when the threat is growing, this is a timely effort. CCO has gathered an impressive cadre of authors to illuminate the important aspects of transnational crime and other illicit networks. They describe the clear and present danger and the magnitude of the challenge of converging and connecting illicit networks; the ways and means used by transnational criminal networks and how illicit networks actually operate and interact; how the proliferation, convergence, and horizontal diversification of illicit networks challenge state sovereignty; and how different national and international organizations are fighting back. A deeper understanding of the problem will allow us to then develop a more comprehensive, more effective, and more enduring solution. Other related products: YouTube War: Fighting in a World of Cameras in Every Cell Phone and Photoshop on Every Computer can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01071-4 Distinguishing Acts of War in Cyberspace: Assessment Criteria, Policy Considerations, and Response Implications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01128-1 Confidence Building in Cyberspace: A Comparison of Territorial and Weapons-Based Regimes can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01139-7 Army Support of Military Cyberspace Operations: Joint Contexts and Global Escalation Implications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01094-3 Legality in Cyberspace: An Adversary View can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01108-7 Cyberterrorism After Stuxnet can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01117-6 Fundamentals of War Gaming --Print Paperback format can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-046-00299-1 -- Print Hardcover format can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-046-00269-0 Policy Analysis in National Security Affairs: New Methods for a New Era can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-020-01561-0 Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security --print paperback format can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-020-01617-9 --ePub format can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/999-000-44440-9 Other products produced by the U.S. Army, National Defense University can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/1078 Other products produced by the U.S. Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/agency/1609.

The rapid growth of organized crime in Mexico and the government’s response to it have driven an unprecedented rise in violence and impelled major structural economic changes, including the recent passage of energy reform. Los Zetas Inc. asserts that these phenomena are a direct and intended result of the emergence of the brutal Zetas criminal organization in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas. Going beyond previous studies of the group as a drug trafficking organization, Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera builds a convincing case that the Zetas and similar organizations effectively constitute transnational corporations with business practices that include the trafficking of crude oil, natural gas, and gasoline; migrant and weapons smuggling; kidnapping for ransom; and video and music piracy. Combining vivid interview commentary with in-depth analysis of organized crime as a transnational and corporate phenomenon, Los Zetas Inc. proposes a new theoretical framework for understanding the emerging face, new structure, and economic implications of organized crime in Mexico. Correa-Cabrera delineates the Zetas establishment, structure, and forms of operation, along with the reactions to this new model of criminality by the state and other lawbreaking, foreign, and corporate actors. Since the Zetas share some characteristics with legal transnational businesses that operate in the energy and private security industries, she also compares this criminal corporation with ExxonMobil, Halliburton, and Blackwater (renamed “Academi\" and now a Constellis company). Asserting that the elevated level of violence between the Zetas and the Mexican state resembles a civil war, Correa-Cabrera identifies the beneficiaries of this war, including arms-producing companies, the international banking system, the US border economy, the US border security/military-industrial complex, and corporate capital, especially international oil and gas companies.