Criminology

1. What are the methodological challenges faced in the study of transnational organized crime
Williams, P  Vlassis, D 2001, Combating Transnational Crime, Frank Cass Publishers, Southgate, London.

This book is basically a compilation of the different efforts on elevating the fight against transnational organized crime. Edited by Phil Williams and Dmitri Vlassis, this book tries to outline the measures and the efforts made by different states and international agencies to confront the different criminal enterprises now operating across borders. As argues by Williams and Vlassis, the challenges posed to national and international governance and international security by criminal organizations could prove more enduring, more complex and, in some respects, more difficult to manage than the relationships of the nuclear arms area. In this case, the book is outlined in three parts different conceptual analyses regarding transnational organized crime, valuable examples of organized transnational crime in operation, and a compilation of the different papers that examine the steps that governments and international organizations have taken. The book argued that the international community must elevate the struggle against transnational crime.

Neuman, WL  Berger, RJ 1988, Competing Perspectives on Cross-National Crime An Evaluation of Theory and Evidence, The Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 281-313.

This article tries to look at the different perspectives that are used by policy makers and international agencies, and as well as scholars in criminality, on analyzing and confronting the presence of organized crimes on a cross national and cross border context. The article argues that the present study on cross border crime is actually dominated by a Durkheimian-Modernization theoretical perspective. In this case, the paper calls for alternative perspectives on studying organized crime, the Marxian-World System and Ecological-Opportunity perspectives. The study started with a review of the dominant Durkheimian-Modernization theoretical perspective, and then compares it with the Marxian-World System and Ecological-Opportunity perspectives according to different assumptions, concepts, and relationships to explain cross-national variations in crime. The article concludes that Comparative criminology needs redirection especially regarding the dominance of the Durkheimian-Modernization theoretical perspective.

Beare, M 2005, Critical Reflections on Transnational Organized Crime, Money Laundering and Corruption, University of Toronto Press, Toronto.

This book, authored by Margaret Beare, is a collection of different papers which tries to cover transnational organized crime, money laundering and corruption, in the context of critical criminology. This book attempts to make a discursive analysis on the different concepts, policies and laws, enforcement responses, specific illegal industries, the illegal activity of legitimate corporations, the corruption of officials and the sorts of criminals involved in transnational organized crime, as well as providing new insights not commonly heard in conventional criminology. The book actually argues that the present discourse in this area actually blurs the real nature of transnational organized crime, leading to the fact that it makes them appear as merely global threats to western security, discounting the fact it is much more. According to Woodiwiss, one of the works highlighted in this book, when people first used organized crimeit has no fixed meaningdepending on their political inclination, contemporaries could have applied it to the schemes of the rich or the poor.

Friman, HR 2004, The Great Escape Globalization, Immigrant Entrepreneurship and the Criminal Economy, Review of International Political Economy, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 98-131.

This article focuses on the role of globalization on transnational crime, focusing on the illicit drug trade which cuts across borders. Even though this article primarily examines the illicit drug trade, it offers a perspective on how globalization establishes the ethnic division of labour throughout the world, and in addition, relates it to the development of the critical economy. According to Friman, Bridging these literatures leads to the question of the extent to which the forces of globalization have empowered immigrants to move beyond the margins of the criminal economies in host countries. In addition, Friman argues that the extent of economic globalization have in fact altered the division of labour, contributing to the growth of a transnational criminal economy. This work emphasizes on the sorry state of immigrant labour pushed by globalization, making them very vulnerable targets in acting as a medium for transnational organized crime, such as the narcotics trade.

Michalowski, RJ  Kramer, RC 1987, The Space between Laws The Problem of Corporate Crime in a Transnational Context, Social Problems, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 34-53.

This article seeks to explain the relationship between the growth of transnational corporations in the recent decade and the proliferation of transnational corporate crime. In this article, Michalowski  Kramer tries to explore one dimension of transnational crime the role of transnational corporations, especially with them involved in violating the laws of other countries where they operate. According to Michalowski  Kramer, TNCs operating in developing host nations have engaged legally in a variety of injurious actions that would have been violations of criminal, regulatory, or civil law in their home countries and that The differences in the laws of home and host nations, and the ability of TNCs to influence the legal climaterenders the laws derived at the level of nation-states an unsatisfactory basis for criminological research on TNCs. In this case, the work serves as a fresh insight into the power of transnational corporations to defy the laws of host countries, and examines them as one important but forgotten part of cross-border organized crime.

4. In order to understand TOC fully, a political economy perspective is required. Discuss.
Naylor, RT 2002, Wages of Crime Black Markets, Illegal Finance, and the Underworld Economy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca.

This book tries to explore the illicit interests of business, and as well as politics and powerful political groups, in the various facts of the illicit criminal global economy, given the fact that organized crime has now taken form of illegal transactions involving the connivance of business and politics. According to Naylor, the real threat to economic morality comes from seemingly legitimate business types intent on seeing how far they can bend the rules before they have to pay politicians to rewrite them. This book focuses on 4 major illicit trades that involves the connivance and interests of business and political figures the illegal arms operation of several guerrilla groups, the present arms trade, money laundering, and as well as the trade of gold on the underworld. Naylor argues that such crimes are not only motivated by economic gain, but are in fact supported by political groups to advance their own agenda.

Wenmann, A 2004, The political economy of transnational crime and its implications for armed violence in Georgia, Insight Turkey, Volume 6, Number 2, pp. 105-117.

This article looks at the political economy of transnational crime, and how it has affected the recurring armed violence in the state of Georgia. Despite focusing on the country of Georgia, the article gives a powerful insight on how transnational crime has actually made certain political groups and business interest profit, in the context of post-Soviet transition from a planned economy to a market economy. Wenmann argues that the transition to a market economy has pushed certain political groups to harbour transnational crime given their economic interests, stating that Transnational crime was able to profit from the rapid privatisation of state assets, the commercialisation of weapon stockpiles and the smuggling of consumer goods and natural resources. Weimann further argues that as long as there are armed groups who are willing to do everything just to pursue their political agenda, then the black market for arms and drugs will continue to prosper, making transnational organized crime an important medium for attaining political advocacies.

Cohen, S 1996, Crime and Politics Spot the Difference, The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 47, No. 1, pp. 1-21.

In this article, Stanley Cohen actually tries to explore the relationship of organized crime and politics in the context of the methodologies and the concepts of the new criminology movement. In this article, Cohen actually argues that the difference between politics and crime is continually being diffused, given that a lot of political groups have even harboured criminal acts and organized crime groups to pursue economic interests. As stated by Stanley, We were right to follow Matzas injunction not to separate the study of crime from the workings and theory of the state. But a world in which politics and crime become indistinguishable is something else. This book offers a unique opportunity to analyze crime according to postmodern theories, specifically on how state institutions riddled with politics may in fact become facilitators of organized crime themselves.

Wong, J 2004, Heijin Organized Crime, Business and Politics in Taiwan, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 77, No. 3, The Political Economy of Electricity Reform in Asia, pp. 572-573.

In this breathtaking essay, Wong tries to trace the different political and economic factors, as well as the different powerful political groups, that support the continued existence of organized crime in Taiwan. According to Wong, uncovered the social, commercial and political bases of organized crime in Taiwan. Having conducted 117 interviews, many of which were with criminal or heidao (the black way) figures in Taiwan. In this case, such detailed study on the different groups that participate in organized crime gives a fresh insight on the matter. Wong establishes the fact that business groups are willing to use organized crime groups just to gain that competitive advantage over rivals, and are even backed by some patron politicians.

Skaperdas, S 2001, The political economy of organized crime providing protection when the state does not, Economic Governance 2 173202.

This work tries to trace the different factors that may make the state lag in confronting transnational organized crime, noting the fact that Organized crime emerges out of the power vacuum that is created by the absence of state enforcement, and which can have many sources geographic, social, and ethnic distance, prohibition, or simply collapse of state institutions. In this case, the study also tried to examine the possibility of connivance between state agencies and organized transnational crime. This work also offers some alternatives on how organized crime may be confronted in case that state regulation and intervention is lacking.