Globalised Crime: deviant globalisation Nayef, Marrium, Raluca

22\03\2021

Globalised Crime: deviant globalisation Nayef, Marrium, Raluca

• Globalisation is essentially the process by which the world is becoming increasingly interconnected due to the flexibility and acceptance of global culture and trade. When the topic of deviant globalisation comes up, the hint is towards international crime, arguably the largest threat facing the world today.

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Globalised Crime

• The most common and recognised globalised crimes are smuggling, human trafficking, drug abuse and illicit trades of various resources as well as cybercrime, a relatively new but deadly addition. Some humanitarian globalised crimes involve, war crimes, crimes against humanity, tortures and terrorism. Such examples of globalised crimes exist in China with the expansion of ‘re-education camps’ where people of the Uighur minority are targeted and are put through heinous experiences such as rape, sexual harassment and in general inmates undergo a cultural and ethnic genocide. This is all done in the name of ‘re-educating’, according to Chinese authorities.

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• The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recently estimated that the international trade in counterfeit and stolen goods amounts to as much as half a trillion dollars, showing a substantial thriving economy for criminals.

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• The impact of international crime and deviant globalisation on IR has long been impactful but has not been investigated in the way it should be. This view is supported by Andreas, P. (2004) where he talks about the lack of action taken on illicit trades ‘Another indicator of such oversight is the limited coverage of illicit economy-related issues on IPE syllabi and reading lists in graduate and undergraduate courses’. Not only is deviant globalisation and international crime not discussed enough in Politics today but it is also not taught as much as it should be academically, limiting the possibility of future students to actively participate in resolving this issue.

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• During the last two decades, neoliberal globalization has resulted in significant growth in transnational crimes such as global terrorism, trafficking in antiquities, people and drugs, immigrant smuggling, and money laundering. The lives of everyone today, and particularly our consuming habits, have become more and more globalized. Globalization has become an everyday world but is of considerable relevance, and touches upon several larger issues and problems like inequality between countries, between North and South, inequalities of social class and genders, democratization and international relations. It also generates strong negative reactions and even criminal acts of opposition to it. Globalization also touches on crime, crime policy and their effects on society.

• Key factors that have favored and are favoring transnational crime.

Globalization, Transnational crimes and its key factors

Post-Cold War

• The end of the Cold War resulted in the breakdown of political and economic barriers not only in Europe but also around the world. This relative peace has allowed international criminals to expand their networks and increase their cooperation in illicit activities and financial transactions, like the collapse of the Soviet Union, threw thousands of state employees onto the labor market. All sorts of operatives were now unemployed, like counterintelligence officers, special forces commandos and border guards, which all had valuable skills against organized crime. This also ensured a steady supply of women for Western Europe and other markets and gave criminal gangs profitable areas for their activities like the sex trade, smuggling of cigarettes and other goods, drug trafficking and more.

• international criminals have the capability to use advanced computers and telecommunications systems to make marketing strategies for drugs and other illicit, to map the fastest and most efficient routes and methods for smuggling and moving money in the financial system, and to create false trails mislead law enforcement or banking security

Using the World Wide Web and related technology

• modern telecommunications and information systems are easily used by criminal networks to pose as legal businesses. This communication equipment facilitates international crimes including making deals and coordinating large volumes of illicit trades. An example can be disposable phones which are very affordable and cannot be traced by the law enforcement, so it gives the criminal security.

Technological advances

• increasing the economic independence and boosting the trade market has helped many countries be more competitive in the global marketplace. However, criminal have taken advantage of this independence by creating their own quasi-legitimate businesses to help smuggling, money laundering, financial frauds, piracy and identity theft. They also have taken advantage of the increased volume of international and legitimate trade, especially between North America, Europe and Asia, to smuggle guns, drugs, people and other contraband.

Economic and trade liberalization

International Travel • the lowering of costs of international travel, the freedom of movement, the easing

of the visa restrictions between some countries to promote commerce and tourism has actually opened a door for facilitated criminal activity. Criminals now have a great choice of travel routes and can arrange itineraries so as to minimize risk. Especially in places like the European Union where most border controls between countries have disappeared.

• However even where there is still an international border, like between Mexico and the U.S.A., traffic in both directions through the border is quite heavy as well. About 700,000 persons cross that Mexico-U.S. border every day along with 150 million vehicles a year and over 5 million shipping containers. This being a very large volume of traffic in and out of the country it provides criminals the opportunity to traffic contraband like drugs and counterfeit products across the border, and also allows them to export firearms, stolen vehicles and others overseas.

• Globalized crime is one of the major threats which the world faces today. Globalization is basically, a transnational organized crime threat assessment. Some of the main types of globalized crime which are known in all parts of the world are migrant smuggling, human trafficking, cocaine trades, illicit heroin trade, maritime piracy, cybercrime as well as trafficking of firearms and environmental resources (Galeotti, 2004). It is believed that there is a huge profit that the smugglers of these kinds of illegal drugs are able to make while doing these kinds of practices. The demand for cocaine has seen a general rise over the years in various parts of the world. This is indeed an alarming situation and has increased the interests of the smugglers in this globalized crime (Nader, 2003).

Examples

• One of the most well-known examples of globalized crime is the smuggling of cocaine. Huge amounts of cocaine are smuggled by the mean of ships as well as planes from the region of Latin America to different countries. The Latin American countries which are popular in this regard or are the main source or suppliers of cocaine are Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, and Colombia. The cocaine is smuggled to West Africa and other Central as well as South Asian countries as well. Some of the East African countries also become a part of this smuggling process as cocaine has a market there as well (Galeotti, 2004).

• The drugs make their way into various countries in one way or the other. The West African region then supplies the drugs to its primary drug consumer markets which are located in the United States of America and Europe. In accordance with the statistics from the 2018 UNODC`s world drug report, the overall quantity of cocaine which is seized in the African region was doubled in the year 2016. The countries located in the North African region were observed to have a six-fold increase in cocaine smuggling and therefore, it accounted for around 69 percent of the total cocaine which was seized in the year 2016 in the continent.

• According to Interpol`s World Atlas of the illicit flows, there are a handful of countries that are known as transit hubs for various drug trafficking which includes cocaine. These countries are Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, the Canary Islands, Ethiopia, Algeria, Morocco, and Libya. Another country that is regarded as a primary source for various drugs is India. Other countries which have seen a drastic increase in the demand of these illegal drugs are Nigeria, Chad, and Mali. Niger, Togo, and Benin have been reported as vital transit hubs for cocaine smuggling recently. It can be stated that cocaine smuggling is one of the major globalized crimes which the world has to deal with these days (Galeotti, 2004).

Bibliography • Rivista di Criminologia, Vittimologia e Sicurezza Vol. III – N. 3, Vol. IV – N. 1,

5-8 – Settembre 2009–Aprile 2010. Emilio C. Viano

• Globalization, Transnational Crime and State Power: The Need for a New Criminology

• Nader, L. (2003). Crime as a category—Domestic and globalized. Crime’s Power, 55-76. doi:10.1057/9781403980595_3

• Galeotti, M. (2004). Introduction: Global crime today. Global Crime, 6(1), 1-7. doi:10.1080/1744057042000297936

Who’s responsibility is it to handle questions regarding crime, Is it the state’s responsibility or the nations?