NCJ Number
199309
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 43 Issue: 1 Dated: Winter 2003 Pages: 63-80
Date Published
2003
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article examines the institutional foundations of contemporary criminality in the post-Cold War era of transnational crime, and countermeasures are proposed.
Abstract
The author argues that the so-called failed state is the principal context and spawning ground for the criminalization of the world economy, and globalization is a pre-eminent related factor. Failed states are those whose power grids have experienced sustained and massive breakdown, wherein state authorities are no longer able to project power either at the center or at the periphery. For a number of reasons, the failed state attracts criminal elements, both inside and outside its borders. Reasons for this include a lack of territorial span of control, an absence of a hierarchical span of control that prevents the government from monitoring its own agents, and the collapse of viable economic structures whose integrity can be effectively guarded against corruption. International criminal syndicates are well aware of which states constitute the "weakest links" in the international state system, and they establish their production centers and distribution networks accordingly. This article defines "globalization" as the "deregulation of national economies and financial markets, on the one hand, and their international integration under the aegis of free-market ideology on the other." In the international division of labor created by international crime, the failed state is a haven for the production and distribution of illicit "goods," and globalization provides sanctuary for the profits that flow from those "goods." Among the proposed remedies for countering the criminogenic effects of failed states and globalization is a call for a greater role for international institutions, such as the United Nations and Interpol, in a coordinated international fight against global criminality. 22 references