NCJ Number
179245
Date Published
1999
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This introduction to a volume containing six other papers explains that the volume focuses on the illicit global economy and its ramifications for international relations and notes that the volume argues for the inclusion of this illicit economy in the central debates within the international relations literature.
Abstract
The illicit global economy has existed as long as the licit global economy has. The illicit global economy includes drug and weapons trafficking, migrant smuggling, toxic waste dumping, money laundering, and many other offenses. What has changed over time are the particular activities; the method and speed of transport; the size, structure, and location of the trafficking organizations; laws and their enforcement; and the nature and level of consumer demand. This book suggests that the illicit global economy has emerged as an important source of conflict and cooperation between countries and other organizations and that domestic and international crime control efforts have expanded as the illicit global economy has expanded. It also notes that the retreat, persistence, and reassertion of government power in the face of globalization has been selective. Thus, the dynamics of the illicit global economy provide a new and powerful lens through which to examine core issues of concern to scholars of international relations; these issues include the changing nature of countries and markets, the impact of globalization, and cooperation and conflict among countries and nonstate organizations. Reference notes