globalisation and crime

Question 1

What are the 3T’s to remember for globalisation?

Answer 1

Technology
Transport
Trade

Question 2

Giddens (1990)

Answer 2

social change has made distance and national borders far less important than barriers between social groups. whatever happens in 1 society can quickly affect another.

financially- financial crashes, Trump (global financial market)
socially- pandemic, accidents like plane crashes can have interantional victims
environmentally- famine and drought

Question 3

positives and negatives of globalisation and crime

Answer 3

negatives:
massive growth in illicit drug trade
- illegal trafficking of weapons
- corruption
- war

positives:
- greater international cooperation between security services
- increase widespread extradition agreement
- Europol established 1992
- Newburn and Reiner 2012: since 9/11 sharing of info between US and UK increased
- better money laundering prevention

Question 4

Castells (2010)

Answer 4

-globalisation leads to the development of networks that cut across national boundaries, self contained societies no longer exist because boundaries are less important
- part of the reason for transnational crime is the supply and demand economy
- the rich west demands products and the poor developing countries supply these services
- in Columbia, 20% of the population relies on the cocaine trade for their livelihood!

Question 5

Newburn (2013) globalisation…

Answer 5

• reduces the power of the nation state- who takes responsibility when there are multiple countries involved?
• new opportunities to commit crime- variation of laws between countries and move between countries to avoid arrest
• create new awareness of risk from foreign countries after international terrorism, global warming. links to Beck’s ‘risk society’

Question 6

McMafia (Misha Glenny 2008)

Answer 6

• organisations that emerged in the old soviet block countries after the fall of communism= McMafia
• globalisation increased simultaneously with the fall of communism
• the fall of communism in 1989 coincided with the deregulation of global markets
• under communism the government regulated the price of everything, but after the fall they deregulated prices, creating hyperinflation and gangs exploiting this

Question 7

Farr (2005)

Answer 7

1. established mafias organised around families and ethnic groups who have adapted to take advantage of globalisation and now operate globally
2. new organised crime groups that have emerged with the breakdown of traditional regimes and are better at using new media

Question 8

Glocal crime- Hobbs and Duningham (1998)

Answer 8

• a business model for organised crime in a global world
• organised crime is still in charge but they need smaller, more local crime groups to deal the drugs, manage sex workers, hide the modern slaves, sell the counterfit goods etc
• the 2 groups work together globally and locally=glocal
• the local crime gangs provide an outlet for the products sold and traded by global gangs

Question 9

Disorganised capitalism (Lash and Urry 1987)

Answer 9

• globalisation equates to higher freedom, and less regulation and state control over business and finance making things more disorganised
• this leaves opportunity for breaches in health and safety/ environmental change/fraud/ low paid and exploited workforce

Question 10

Factors which have enabled crime in a globalised age, ranked

Answer 10

1. more opportunities eg dark web enabling crime
2. supply and demand- criminal enterprise flourish, west demand
3. disorganised capitalism
4. individualisation- each to their own, dog eat dog society means people risk more
5. growing inequality- losers are poor exploited workers while winners are rich CEOs
6. cultural globalisation- singular unattainable idea of success is widespread
7. global risk society- Beck 1992, uncertainty and instability = fear and distrust, moral panics and villification of groups such as immigrants