crime and globalisation

Question 1

the global criminal economy

Answer 1

the globalisation of legitimate activities and an increasing interconnectedness have brought about the spread of transnational crime

castells - value of the global criminal economy is £1 trillion

examples:
green crime
trafficking of women and children
cyber crimes
smuggling of legal goods
smuggling of illegal immigrants
the drugs trade

the west demands the global criminal economy

in poor countries such as peru, drug cultivation is an attractive option because it requires little investment in technology and commands high prices

in colombia, an estimated 20% of the population depends on cocaine production for their livelihood, and cocaine outsells all of colombia’s other exports combined

Question 2

global risk consciousness

Answer 2

globalisation creates new insecurities and produces a new mentality of risk consciousness in which risk is seen as global rather than tied to particular places

for example, the increased movement of people as economic migrants seeking work or asylum seekers fleeing persecution, has given rise to anxieties in western countries about the risks of crime and disorder

much of our knowledge about risks comes from the media which often give an exaggerated views about the dangers we face - immigration, media creates moral panics about supposed threats, often fuelled by politicians

Question 3

globalisation, capitalism and crime

Answer 3

taylor - globalisation has led to changes in the pattern and extent of crime. by giving free reign to market forces, globalisation has created greater inequality and rising crime

globalisation has allowed transnational corporations to switch manufacturing to low wage countries, producing job insecurity, unemployment and poverty

deregulation means that governments have little control over their own economies, for example to create jobs or raise taxes while state spending on welfare has declined

marketisation has encouraged people to see themselves as individual consumers, calculating the personal costs and benefits of each action, undermining social cohesion

the lack of legitimate job opportunities destroys self respect and drives the unemployed to look for illegal ones - in la, de industrialisation has led to the growth of drug gangs numbering to 10,000 members

the deregulation of financial markets has created opportunities for insider trading and the movement of funds around the globe to avoid taxation. similarly, transnational bodies such as the european union has offered opportunities for fraudulent claims for subsides estmiated at over $7 billion per year in the eu

taylor’s theory does not adequately explain how the changes make people’s behaviour change

Question 4

crimes of globalisation

Answer 4

rothe and friedrich - the imf impose pro capitalist neoliberal economic structural adjustment programs on poor countires as a condition for the loans they provide, requires government to cut spending on health and education and to privatise publicly owned services such as water supply

cain - the imf and world bank act as a global state and while they may not break laws, they cause widespread social harms directly and indirectly

Question 5

patterns of criminal organisation

Answer 5

hobbs and dunningham - the way crime is organised is linked to the economic changes brought about by globalisation - involves individuals acting as a hub around which a loose knit network forms composed of other individuals seeking opportunities, often linking legitimate and illegitimate activities

crime works as a glocal system, locally based but with global connections

it is not clear that such patterns are new nor that the old structures have disappeared. it may be that the two have co existed.

Question 6

mcmafia - glenny

Answer 6

refers to organisations which emerged in russia and eastern europe following the fall of communism

the origins of transnational crime is the break up of the soviet union in 1989, which coincided with the deregulation of global markets

under communism, the ussr had regulated the prices of everything. following the fall, the russian government deregulated most sectors of the economy except for natural resources such as oil - remained at old prices - 1/40th of the world market price

anyone with access to funds such as former communist officials could buy up oil and diamonds for next to nothing - sold them abroad at astronomical profit and became oligarchs - russia’s new capitalist class

to protect their wealth, capitalists turned to the mafias

organised to pursue self interest