C&D- GLOBALISATION: STATE CRIME

Question 1

What is the definition of state crime according to Green and Ward?

Answer 1

State crime is any illegal activity perpetrated by, or with the consent of, state agencies.

Question 2

What are McLaughlin’s four categories of state crime?

Answer 2

Political crimes: corruption and censorship.

Crimes committed by security forces: genocide, torture.

Economic crimes: violations of health and safety laws.

Social and cultural crimes: institutionalized racism.

Question 3

What are some examples of war crimes?

Answer 3

Deliberate targeting of civilians.

Torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners.

Taking hostages.

Using civilians as shields or employing child soldiers.

Settlement of occupied territories.

Question 4

Under which declaration are war crimes punishable, and when was it established?

Answer 4

War crimes are punishable under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN, established in 1948.

Question 5

What is the significance of the US-led war in Iraq in 2003?

Answer 5

Kramer and Michalowski argue it was illegal, as it wasn’t declared by the UN Security Council and was based on the unfounded claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Question 6

What does Whyte mean by “neo-liberal colonialism” in Iraq?

Answer 6

The constitution was illegally changed to allow the US to seize Iraq’s oil revenue for reconstruction, with billions going to US firms—an example of state-corporate crime.

Question 7

Why are war crimes often invisible, and how are they reported?

Answer 7

There are no official statistics or victim surveys, but organizations like Amnesty International and Liberty report massive human rights abuses.

Question 8

What is genocide, and what are some examples?

Answer 8

Genocide involves violent crimes committed against national, ethnic, or religious groups. Examples include:

Turkish genocide of 1 million Armenians.

Holocaust of 6 million Jews and others.

Ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Rwanda.

Question 9

What are state-initiated crimes?

Answer 9

Crimes where the state approves or directs corporate actions, e.g., the Challenger space shuttle disaster caused by NASA-approved budget cuts leading to negligence.

Question 10

What are state-facilitated crimes?

Answer 10

Crimes where the state fails to regulate private industries, e.g., the Deepwater Horizon BP oil rig disaster caused by cost-cutting and inadequate US government oversight.

Question 11

What are the main reasons Green and Ward argue state crime is serious?

Answer 11

Scale of state crime: Widespread victimization enabled by state power.

National sovereignty: Limits international organizations like the UN from intervening.

Question 12

What is Chambliss’s domestic law definition of state crime, and its criticism?

Answer 12

State crime is any act defined by law as criminal and committed by state officials in their jobs. Criticism: States can legalize harmful actions, e.g., Nazi Germany legalizing forced sterilization.

Question 13

What is zemiology, and how does it define state crime?

Answer 13

Zemiology is the study of harm. State crime includes any act causing harm, whether illegal or not.

Question 14

What is the criticism of the zemiology definition?

Answer 14

It is too vague, as defining harm and its threshold is subjective.

Question 15

What is the labelling theory definition of state crime?

Answer 15

State crime depends on societal reactions; an act becomes criminal if society labels it as such.

Question 16

What are the criticisms of the labelling theory definition?

Answer 16

It ignores how states influence public opinion, e.g., Nazi Germany using propaganda to legitimize persecution of Jews.

Question 17

What does Cohen’s spiral of denial explain about how states legitimize their crimes?

Answer 17

Deny the crime occurred.

Reframe it as something else, e.g., self-defense.

Justify it, e.g., war on terror.

Question 18

What techniques of neutralization do states use, according to Cohen?

Answer 18

Denial of victim: “They’re terrorists.”

Denial of injury: “We’re the real victims.”

Denial of responsibility: “I was following orders.”

Condemnation of condemners: “You’re prejudiced.”

Appeal to higher loyalty: “It was for a greater cause.”

Question 19

What features of modernity contribute to genocide, according to Bauman?

Answer 19

Division of labor: Responsibility is diffused.

Bureaucratization: Normalizes killing.

Instrumental rationality: Efficient methods for harmful goals.

Science and technology: Tools enabling mass harm

Question 20

What are Kelman and Hamilton’s three features producing crimes of obedience?

Answer 20

Authorization: Acts are approved by authority, overriding personal morality.

Routinization: Acts become routine, detaching morality.

Dehumanization: Victims are seen as sub-human, removing moral responsibility.

Question 21

What is Schwendinger and Schwendinger’s human rights definition of state crime?

Answer 21

State crime is any action by the state violating natural or civil rights, e.g., life, liberty, voting, and education.

Question 22

What criticisms does S. Cohen have of the human rights definition?

Answer 22

Not all actions harming rights are crimes, e.g., welfare spending cuts.

Question 23

What are some feminist perspectives on state crime?

Answer 23

Radical feminism: Highlights wartime sexual violence as male power assertion.

Ecofeminism: Contrasts male aggression with female nurturing.

Question 24

What is an example of state-facilitated wartime sexual violence?

Answer 24

In Darfur, young girls are kidnapped and enslaved, reflecting systemic patriarchy.

Question 25

What would interactionists focus on in studying state crime?

Answer 25

How acts are labeled as crimes and how international law and societal reactions shape this categorization.

Question 26

What is an example of state crime involving war crimes?

Answer 26

The USA dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII, targeting civilians.

The saturation bombing of Dresden by the UK during WWII.

The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, declared on the false premise of weapons of mass destruction (illegal war).

Question 27

What is an example of state crime involving torture?

Answer 27

Torture of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison by US forces.

Extraordinary rendition by the UK and USA during the Iraq war, where prisoners were sent to countries allowing torture.

Question 28

What is an example of genocide as a state crime?

Answer 28

The Holocaust: Nazi Germany’s genocide of 6 million Jews and other groups.

Rwandan genocide: Mass killing of Tutsi people by Hutu extremists in 1994.

The Armenian genocide: The mass killing of 1 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire.

Question 29

What is an example of state crime involving state-corporate crime?

Answer 29

The Challenger space shuttle disaster (1986): NASA approved budget cuts leading to negligence.

Deepwater Horizon BP oil rig disaster (2010): BP’s cost-cutting caused the collapse, and the US government failed to oversee operations properly.

Question 30

What is an example of political state crime?

Answer 30

Corruption in governments, such as bribery and election rigging.

Censorship by authoritarian regimes like North Korea, where citizens are denied access to information.

Question 31

What is an example of social and cultural state crime?

Answer 31

Institutional racism: The apartheid system in South Africa where laws enforced racial segregation and discrimination.

Forced sterilization of disabled people by Nazi Germany under laws they created.

Question 32

What is an example of economic state crime?

Answer 32

Violations of health and safety laws, leading to disasters like factory collapses.
Seizing Iraq’s oil revenue post-2003 invasion under the guise of “reconstruction,” benefitting US firms (neo-liberal colonialism