Transnational Organized Crime Research Papers (original) (raw)

This book aims to address ‘boat migration’ with a holistic approach. The different chapters consider the multiple facets of the phenomenon and the complex challenges they pose, bringing together knowledge from several disciplines and... more

This book aims to address ‘boat migration’ with a holistic approach. The different chapters consider the multiple facets of the phenomenon and the complex challenges they pose, bringing together knowledge from several disciplines and regions of the world within a single collection. Together, they provide an integrated picture of transnational movements of people by sea with a view to making a decisive contribution to our understanding of current trends and future perspectives and their treatment from legal-doctrinal, legal-theoretical, and non-legal angles. The final goal is to unpack the tension that exists between security concerns and individual rights in this context and identify tools and strategies to adequately manage its various components, garnering an inter-regional / multi-disciplinary dialogue, including input from international law, law of the sea, maritime security, migration and refugee studies, and human rights, to address the position of ‘migrants at sea’ thoroughly.

The importance of this eBook is that it provides a depository of information (both textual and visual) concerning the Zetas cartel’s large-scale C2 communications network as well as providing additional information on the creation of a... more

The importance of this eBook is that it provides a depository of information (both textual and visual) concerning the Zetas cartel’s large-scale C2 communications network as well as providing additional information on the creation of a later close circuit television (CCTV) system constructed by remnants of the Gulf Cartel. This reader consists of an acronym listing, 10 readings, an image gallery, three appendices, an image gallery addendum of outside of/post project equipment seizure incidents, and Spanish references.

Much discussion of criminal law is analogous to the Italian cannonball; analytic embellishment adds richness in detail but often conceals crucial structural interrelationships. In this article I attempt to use the techniques of game... more

Much discussion of criminal law is analogous to the Italian cannonball; analytic embellishment adds richness in detail but often conceals crucial structural interrelationships. In this article I attempt to use the techniques of game theory to isolate minimal attributes of problems familiar in criminal law. In the first section I construct a model indicating the impact of the criminal law on the actions of prospective malefactors and, by extension, on the welfare of society as a whole; in subsequent sections I explore the implications of this model for public policy. My hope is to achieve clarity through abstractness.

The analysis at hand is examining the issue of oil theft at sea (and certain other transnational types of organized crime, with illicit traffic of narcotics and psycho-tropic substances standing out), within the framework of maritime... more

The analysis at hand is examining the issue of oil theft at sea (and certain other transnational types of organized crime, with illicit traffic of narcotics and psycho-tropic substances standing out), within the framework of maritime security and, particularly, the effective implementation of the International Ship and Port Facili-ty Security Code (ISPS Code), an international regulation from the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The focus is on Mexico; however, it can be applicable to other countries facing similar security threats and insecurity levels. Possible solutions associated with the effective implementation of the ISPS Code and appropriate maritime security measures are pin-pointed. In most cases, the crude oil is stolen directly from the charge buoys located offshore or from maritime terminals, with cooperation from corrupted employees from the maritime traffic centres and other authorities. With the use of fake invoices, it is used for illegal bunkering or transported by large ocean-going tankers to selected refineries outside the country; this requires signif-icant efforts and coordination that can only be facilitated by well-organized crimi-nal rings.
An important conclusion is that oil theft and illegal bunkering activities, as well as piratic attacks against offshore platforms are clearly on the rise in the case of Mexico. It is furthermore highlighted that the new trend of transport of drugs in packages adhered to the bulbous bow of vessels require international acknowl-edgment and appropriate handling measures to effectively tackle the specific un-lawful practice, globally. The full application of the referred mandatory Code and rigid compliance with the Port Facility Security Plan (PFSP) and Ship Security Plan (SSP) as a working document during the 365 days of the year, both at ports and vessels could potentially reduce this increasing tendency. Recommendations concerning the use of remote controlled underwater vehicles (drones) by port au-thorities for hull-vessel inspections are also included.

The effects of globalisation on crime and criminal justice pose challenges which the discipline of law still has to catch up with. From the point of view of a lawyer, the definition of transnational crime and its impact on criminal... more

The effects of globalisation on crime and criminal justice pose challenges which the discipline of law still has to catch up with. From the point of view of a lawyer, the definition of transnational crime and its impact on criminal justice have yet to be crystallised. The phenomenon of globalisation, its effect on society and crime render our traditional comprehension of crime and criminal justice inadequate. This demonstrates how the legal and law enforcement procedures are left behind the fast evolution of transnational harmful acts which are not categorised either as domestic or international crimes. It increasingly becomes clear that resorting to neighbouring disciplines is necessary to comprehend such emerging, complicated concepts and placing them within the spectrum of our existing knowledge. Such expansion, though, on social sciences, is not an easy task for lawyers to perform, having our own existing methods of mapping out areas of knowledge. A criminological introduction to the transnational crime and criminal justice through the lenses of globalisation is therefore necessary for the lawyer who usefully acknowledges the limits of the legal discipline and the need for additional lenses to comprehend new fast-evolving problems. For an EU criminal lawyer, particularly, this is an even more imperative need as EU criminal law is a response to the effects of globalisation on crime in our own geographical area of increased mobility transcending the nation-state border.

Recent years have seen important developments regarding the UN Security Council and the UN Secretariat. The Security Council, which has increasingly recognized organized crime as a serious threat to international peace and... more

Recent years have seen important developments regarding the UN Security Council and the UN Secretariat. The Security Council, which has increasingly recognized organized crime as a serious threat to international peace and security—especially in relation to terrorism—has begun using sanctions to deal with organized crime and trafficking in Mali and Libya. Further, serious and organized crime (SOC) police units have been established in several UN field operations, including in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mali. However, there is still no UN-wide policy on organized crime, and the issue has been conspicuously absent from recent strategic documents such as the Action for Peacekeeping Declaration (A4P). This report argues that there is need for a UN system-wide approach to peace operations for preventing and addressing organized crime, and its links to terrorism. To achieve this, UN member states and the UN Secretariat should seek to consolidate and broaden its nascent law enforcement capacity- building police approach into a context sensitive, system-wide approach. Six specific recommendations for the way forward are offered.

In this article I provide the first systematic investigation of the justification of Somali pirates. Drawing on a practice theoretical perspective I show how piracy is justified by a grand narrative that projects piracy as quasi-state... more

In this article I provide the first systematic investigation of the justification of Somali pirates. Drawing on a practice theoretical perspective I show how piracy is justified by a grand narrative that projects piracy as quasi-state practice of the protection of sovereignty against foreign intruders. Paying attention to narrative provides an explanation for the persistence of piracy and assists us in understanding the phenomenon. Relying on publicly available interviews with pirates, I deconstruct this grand narrative, show which elements are aligned and detail the different functions of the narrative in the light of the situation in which it is told. The article develops an alternative perspective on piracy based on the study of practice, narrative and situation which will also be useful to understand other forms of illicit or violent practices.

In "Homicidal Ecologies" in Latin America, Deborah Yashar asks, Why has homicide reached such high levels in Latin America’s Third Wave democracies—particularly in Central America? The violence in Guatemala and El Salvador is especially... more

In "Homicidal Ecologies" in Latin America, Deborah Yashar asks, Why has homicide reached such high levels in Latin America’s Third Wave democracies—particularly in Central America? The violence in Guatemala and El Salvador is especially puzzling as it followed the peace accords of the 1990s, ending brutal civil wars. Yet the rates of homicide—even if they shifted from political to social killings—remained the same or worsened in the post–civil war period. Given the severe level of homicide in the civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala, this is an extraordinary phenomenon. The puzzle arises in part from the premise that democracy would nurture more civil societies.

ASpecial Issue on Organized Crime

The agenda topics before the General Assembly First Committee are: (I) Cyber Security and Protecting against Cyber Warfare; (II) The Threat of Transnational Organized Crime to International Security; and (III) Efforts to Control Weapons... more

The agenda topics before the General Assembly First Committee are: (I) Cyber Security and Protecting against Cyber Warfare; (II) The Threat of Transnational Organized Crime to International Security; and (III) Efforts to Control Weapons of Mass Destruction. The People’s Republic of China maintains its stand that Member States can alleviate and reduce all forms of threats to security through collaboration.

Book review "The Entangled City: Crime as Urban Fabric in Sao Paulo", written by Gabriel Feltran

In Afghanistan, opium cultivation was part of an economy of survival in the decades preceding the Afghan resistance war against the Soviets and, during the subsequent civil war, cultivation and trafficking of opium poppy became one of the... more

In Afghanistan, opium cultivation was part of an economy of survival in the decades preceding the Afghan resistance war against the Soviets and, during the subsequent civil war, cultivation and trafficking of opium poppy became one of the main methods of financing the so-called warlords. However, the Taliban regime would be the first to convert the cultivation and trafficking of this drug into a state business stimulating cultivation and production and the corresponding taxation. Finally, the international community has allowed that cultivation and trafficking become a substantial part of the current Afghan political structure, given its inability to understand the problem in its real and proper dimension and to define an integrated anti-drug strategy. Titulo en Castellano: Los errores de las políticas occidentales en Afganistán: la economía del opio como caso de estudio Resumen: Si en las décadas previas a la guerra de resistencia afgana contra los soviéticos, el cultivo de opio era parte de una economía de supervivencia, a partir del final de esta guerra, el cultivo y tráfico de la adormidera se convertiría en uno de los principales métodos de financiación de los denominados warlords durante la guerra civil subsecuente. Sin embargo, el régimen Talibán sería el primero que convertiría el cultivo y tráfico de esta droga en un asunto de Estado mediante su impulso y correspondiente tasación. Por último, ha sido la propia comunidad internacional la que ante su incapacidad para comprender el problema en su justa dimensión y para definir una estrategia antinarcóticos integrada ha permitido que su cultivo y tráfico haya llegado a constituirse en parte de la estructura política afgana. Palabras clave: Opio, economía de guerra, red política clientelar, Afganistán, estrategia antinarcóticos integrada.

In its recent Armed Conflict Survey 2017, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, London said Mexico’s criminal insecurity has reached the level of armed conflict. The Mexican government rejected that characterization. This... more

In its recent Armed Conflict Survey 2017, the International Institute of Strategic Studies, London said Mexico’s criminal insecurity has reached the level of armed conflict. The Mexican government rejected that characterization. This analysis explores the controversy over non-state conflict.

El análisis de la presencia del narcotráfico en México no debe centrarse sólo en la composición del paisaje cambiante de los cárteles, sino también en la imagen que ellos aspiran a dar de sí mismos. Por ello, además de estudiar la... more

El análisis de la presencia del narcotráfico en México no debe centrarse sólo en la composición del paisaje cambiante de los cárteles, sino también en la imagen que ellos aspiran a
dar de sí mismos. Por ello, además de estudiar la violencia como tal conviene atender a su carácter comunicativo. La comunicación –según la definición clásica– puede concebirse
como “el proceso de intercambio de información entre un emisor y un receptor por medio de ciertos signos y códigos”, los cuales ponen en evidencia la calidad del diálogo en una situación
concreta, incluso en el caso extremo de la que acompaña a la violencia. Al abordar el tema de las narcomantas es preciso tener en cuenta a los diferentes emisores y receptores, todos ellos con una marcada pluralidad de voces y objetivos que alimentan acciones muchas veces conflictivas y contrapuestas

The Master of every infrastructure, a monument to the waste of resources and land consumption, dream of omnipotence of an inept and parasitical political class. This is the bridge over the Strait of Messina, the "ecological monsters"... more

The Master of every infrastructure, a monument to the waste of resources and land consumption, dream of omnipotence of an inept and parasitical political class. This is the bridge over the Strait of Messina, the "ecological monsters" whose construction should start by the end of next year, and has already broken all the records: It is in fact the most expensive project in the history of public infrastructures, the slowest ever to be conceived, the one requiring the biggest quantity of cement and concrete; finally, it will have the longest single span in the world: 3,360 meters, that is, 1,400 more than the technological Japanese "jewel" Akashi Kaikyo. In the enchanting scenery of Scylla and Charybdis, the mythological monsters praised by Homer, two towers made of concrete and steel, 398 meters high, each formed by two piers over 50 feet in diameter, supported by four steel rods for a total weight of 166,600 tons, should be built. The volume of the foundations will be, in Sicily, of 86,000 cubic meters, while in Calabria of 72,000. In addition to the bridge itself, 40 km of road links and railways (a 2 km viaduct and a 20.6 km tunnel), mega-landfills, quarries, and connecting structures will be built. The project will involve vast territorial areas in the provinces of Messina and Reggio Calabria: The extension of the areas touched by the project amounts to 514,000 square meters, to which should be added the landfill sites, placed up to 50 km from the infrastructure, for a total of 764,500 square meters.

This study analyses the criminal histories of Australian organised crime offenders. Most offenders associated with organised crime groups did not commit their first offence until adulthood; nearly one-third were aged 25 years or older... more

This study analyses the criminal histories of Australian organised crime offenders. Most offenders associated with organised crime groups did not commit their first offence until adulthood; nearly one-third were aged 25 years or older when they committed their first offence. Offending was most common, and remained relatively stable, throughout their 20s and early 30s. Offending frequency gradually increased during this period, as did the seriousness of offences committed. Age at first offence and prevalence of offending varied by crime type. Certain offences—particularly those associated with organised crime— were more common among older offenders. As the first attempt to analyse the criminal histories of organised crime offenders in Australia, this study offers new insights into the extent, nature and seriousness of offending, which will help shape policy responses to organised crime.

We must take note, that it's rather difficult to meet the on-growing social requirements of society urging police and prosecutors to increase effectivity in the field of confiscating illicit proceeds of crime in compliance with the... more

We must take note, that it's rather difficult to meet the on-growing social requirements of society urging police and prosecutors to increase effectivity in the field of confiscating illicit proceeds of crime in compliance with the statutory provisions on asset recovery. Amongst other pointers, low reimbursement indexes and relatively low measures of confiscated assets seem to mirror such difficulties. This study aims to introduce domestic statutory provisions on asset recovery with reflections to the applicable normatives of the European Union, and introduces the most important regulations on deprivation of assets.

This study examines the assumption that crime-prone individuals or organizations move to exploit changing criminal opportunities. A competing explanation holds that new criminal opportunities (e.g., Internet access, money laundering,... more

This study examines the assumption that crime-prone individuals or organizations move to exploit changing criminal opportunities. A competing explanation holds that new criminal opportunities (e.g., Internet access, money laundering, political upheaval, etc.) provide motivation for individuals who formerly were not connected with criminal activity. Detailed case studies of organized crime groups and activities are used to examine the nexus between criminal opportunities and criminal groups. A model that employs both opportunity and offender-availability factors is proposed to predict the incidence of organized crime activity. Such a model also has implications for the extent to which law enforcement agencies and public policy should focus on surveillance of known criminal groups versus proactive strategies to reduce criminal opportunities that emerge from social and technological changes.

"Human smuggling services constitute a solidarity-based mechanism whereby families, alongside people in transit and the facilitators of their journeys -- all targets of migration control -- collaborate to support eh mobility processes of... more

"Human smuggling services constitute a solidarity-based mechanism whereby families, alongside people in transit and the facilitators of their journeys -- all targets of migration control -- collaborate to support eh mobility processes of those unable to secure state protections amid mechanism that work to entrap, criminalize and discipline them and their communities."

A multi-sectorial regime of protection including international treaties, conservation and security measures, demand reduction campaigns and quasi-military interventions has been established to protect rhinos. Despite these efforts, the... more

A multi-sectorial regime of protection including international treaties, conservation and security measures, demand reduction campaigns and quasi-military interventions has been established to protect rhinos. Despite these efforts, the poaching of rhinos and trafficking of rhino horn continue unabated. This dissertation asks why the illegal market in rhinoceros horn is so resilient in spite of the myriad measures employed to disrupt it. A theoretical approach grounded in the sociology of markets is applied to explain the structure and functioning of the illegal market. The project follows flows of rhino horn from the source in southern Africa to illegal markets in Southeast Asia. The multi-sited ethnography included participant observations, interviews and focus groups with 416 informants during fourteen months of fieldwork. The sample comprised of, amongst others, convicted and active rhino poachers, smugglers and kingpins, private rhino breeders and hunting outfitters, African and...

The global illegal wildlife trade has been anecdotally linked to other serious crimes, such as fraud, corruption, and money laundering, as well as the cross-border trafficking of drugs, arms, counterfeit goods, and persons. As research on... more

The global illegal wildlife trade has been anecdotally linked to other serious crimes, such as fraud, corruption, and money laundering, as well as the cross-border trafficking of drugs, arms, counterfeit goods, and persons. As research on this topic is scarce and sporadic, we conducted a scoping literature review to gather information across multiple disciplines and evidence types on crime convergences in the illegal wildlife trade. We reviewed 150 papers published between 2000 and 2020. We found that the illegal trade in many of the most frequently trafficked species have reportedly converged with numerous other serious and organised crimes, most commonly drug trafficking. Convergences can occur in a variety of ways, although the diversification of organised crime groups, parallel trafficking of contraband, and use of enabling crimes (such as corruption and violence) were the most frequently described. Possible explanations for our results and future research directions are discussed.

Abstract: Organised criminals affilitated to the Big Circle Boys (BCB) have spread from mainland China into Western Europe and North America. This paper analyses the group's origins and areas of operation. details its activities and... more

Abstract: Organised criminals affilitated to the Big Circle Boys (BCB) have spread from mainland China into Western Europe and North America. This paper analyses the group's origins and areas of operation. details its activities and explains why it is so hard to detect and combat.

In an apparently significant acceleration of tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP), Mexican cartel violence embraced the car bomb in an attack on Federal police in embattled Ciudad Juárez last Thursday, 15 July 2010. Not only did the... more

In an apparently significant acceleration of tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP), Mexican cartel violence embraced the car bomb in an attack on Federal police in embattled Ciudad Juárez last Thursday, 15 July 2010. Not only did the attack employ a car bomb (apparently a primitive improvised explosive secreted inside a car not the fully-integrated variant found in Iraq, and the AfPak theatres known as a VBIED), but it also was an ambush that directly targeted police. This TTP is a classic insurgent attack method that promises to be part of Mexico's future engagements in its on-going criminal insurgencies.

A proposta é analisar a relação entre o Massacre ocorrido na prisão de Alcaçuz e Ro-gério Coutinho Madruga/RN em janeiro de 2017 e o fortalecimento das disputas entre duas facções rivais (Primeiro Comando da SUMÁRIO 1 INTRODUÇÃO. 2 O... more

A proposta é analisar a relação entre o Massacre ocorrido na prisão de Alcaçuz e Ro-gério Coutinho Madruga/RN em janeiro de 2017 e o fortalecimento das disputas entre duas facções rivais (Primeiro Comando da SUMÁRIO 1 INTRODUÇÃO. 2 O MASSACRE E A COMPOSIÇÃO DO "FRONTE". 3 ORGANIZAÇÃO POLÍTICA. 4 "PEGA A VISÃO..." SINDICATO DO RN: UM PANORAMA SOBRE SUA FUNDAÇÃO E HISTÓRIA. 5 RIVALIDADE E DISPUTA POR TERRITÓRIOS. 6 CONSEQUÊNCIAS DAS DISPUTAS. 7 PARA NÃO CONCLUIR. REFERÊNCIAS Palavras-Chave Facção. Sistema prisional. Disputas. Massacre de Alcaçuz. Capital-PCC-e Sindicato do Crime do RN-SDC) e do SDC, especificamente. Pre-tendemos entender em que sentido esse episódio trágico, no qual pelo menos 27 pessoas foram brutalmente assassinadas, contribuiu (e contribui) para o aumento da violência urbana em Natal, as violações de direitos humanos no sistema prisional local e a ampliação da guerra entre coletivos criminosos locais. O presente artigo é fruto tanto de um amplo trabalho de etnografias com familiares, ex-detentos e integrantes do SDC, quanto da atuação como ativistas pela dignidade das pessoas em situação de cárcere no Rio Grande do Norte. Conside-rando a ausência de estudos sobre as fac-ções locais que atuam no Nordeste, o artigo tem como proposta contribuir para o levan-tamento de questões que perpassam os debates sobre os coletivos do crime e seus atravessamentos nas ruas e presídios dessa região e traz elementos importantes para refletir sobre o tema nacionalmente. Ressal-tamos, por fim, que fomos afetadas emocio-nalmente pelo Massacre e suas implicações. Nesse sentido, propositalmente, a narrativa tem, também, um tom pessoal e, ao mesmo tempo, denunciativo.

In spite of the regulation, financial assistance and securitisation of responses to rhino poaching, rhino deaths have escalated over the past decade. This article discusses why efforts to disrupt illegal flows of rhino horn have been... more

In spite of the regulation, financial assistance and securitisation of
responses to rhino poaching, rhino deaths have escalated over the
past decade. This article discusses why efforts to disrupt illegal
flows of rhino horn have been unsuccessful by honing in on
structural and functional aspects of the broader rhino horn economy.
Existing scholarly literature tends to focus on the legal–illegal
binary in markets. The focus of this article is on grey flows in
wildlife markets through an examination of rhino horn laundering
and illegal hunting in the wildlife industry. Fluid interfaces of legal,
grey and illegal flows have led to the creation of hybrid and highly
adaptable flows. It is also argued that the international regulatory
framework is not geared towards effective transnational enforcement
and lacks social legitimacy amongst key actors. The article
draws on research findings from a multi-sited ethnography, during
which the researcher followed rhino horn from the source to the
market.

Heroin, Organized Crime and the Making of Modern Turkey is a book on organized crime in Turkey with a historical approach that covers the period starting from the Ottoman Empire ending in the 1970s with a short elaboration of the... more

Heroin, Organized Crime and the Making of Modern Turkey is a book on organized crime in Turkey with a historical approach that covers the period starting from the Ottoman Empire ending in the 1970s with a short elaboration of the contemporary era in the conclusion section. The author of the book, Ryan Gingeras, is an academic at the Naval Postgraduate School in the U.S.A.

A lo largo de la historia, las personas han expresado su política y su poder en una variedad de formas. En ese sentido, si bien la política internacional aparecería con la llegada de los primeros Estados organizados hace miles de años, la... more

A lo largo de la historia, las personas han expresado su política y su poder en una variedad de formas. En ese sentido, si bien la política internacional aparecería con la llegada de los primeros Estados organizados hace miles de años, la política global sería más reciente, apareciendo hace aproximadamente unos cinco siglos, cuando los Estados imperiales europeos comenzaron a unir los espacios geográficos más remotos del planeta a través de la conquista y del comercio. A partir de entonces, el planeta estaría caracterizado por la globalización o la interdependencia económica, cultural, legal, social, psicológica, tecnológica, ambiental y, por lo tanto, política, cada vez más compleja. Hasta hace poco, el desarrollo de la globalización había sido lento. Aunque los países se aliaban, intercambiaban y negociaban entre sí, las divisiones entre los Estados superaban con creces los lazos de cooperación, y las naciones a menudo resolvían sus conflictos con la guerra o la amenaza de guerra.

Attempts to govern crime at the global level date back to late 19th century, and since the founding of the United Nations and other international organizations with mandates concerning responses to various forms of illicit cross-border... more

Attempts to govern crime at the global level date back to late 19th century, and since the founding of the United Nations and other international organizations with mandates concerning responses to various forms of illicit cross-border conduct, global crime governance has been part and parcel of domestic politics and foreign policy. Throughout this time, crime governance has been deeply entwined with the uneven progresses of economic development, securitization and digitization, giving rise to patchy response mechanisms, often questioning the crime control capacity of the international community.

With Nigerian organised crime groups operating in the heartland of the Sicilian mafia, Dr Anna Sergi examines these groups' activities and their relationship with Cosa Nostra. Key Points  The role of Nigerian criminal groups in Sicily... more

With Nigerian organised crime groups operating in the heartland of the Sicilian mafia, Dr Anna Sergi examines these groups' activities and their relationship with Cosa Nostra. Key Points  The role of Nigerian criminal groups in Sicily was highlighted by the conviction of three members of the Black Axe group under laws designed to target mafia organisations in July 2016.  The greater role played by Nigerian criminal groups in Palermo does not indicate a weakening of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia group in its traditional heartland.  Instead, Nigerian criminal groups are effectively acting under licence from Cosa Nostra, which is concentrating more of its operations in licit activities, and delegating other activities to the Nigerian groups.

The purpose of this research has been to examine the era of securitization in the Sahara-Sahel meta-region of West Africa. It begins with an executive summary of the research, followed immediately by a historical perspective on the... more

The purpose of this research has been to examine the era of securitization in the Sahara-Sahel meta-region of West Africa. It begins with an executive summary of the research, followed immediately by a historical perspective on the Sahara-Sahel, one that is crucial to understanding the current (socio)political economy of the wider region and the crises that are manifest there. It then discusses the role of an energy-security nexus in heralding the securitization era of the Sahara-Sahel, and the role the United States and Algeria played in prompting it. This discussion gives way to the stepped-up role of the European Union in the region, which increasingly views the Sahelian countries as an externalized, southern border of the supranational bloc largely through the prism of a supposed security-migration-development nexus. This nexus is examined (as is, briefly, the alleged climate-conflict nexus) and, while it certainly exists, this research demonstrates current approaches of securitization in the region have wreaked much harm on the local communities there, while encouraging rent-seeking behavior from corrupt governments and leading to proliferation of instability, especially by pushing average people into the fold of organized crime and smuggling to eke out a living. Focus is on Mali, a state which has faced numerous revolts since independence by alienated communities in its northern regions, most recently in 2012 which captured international attention. It concludes with a series of recommendations that American and EU policymakers ought to heed in order to avoid fanning the flames that have already spread from Mali and seem to be shifting southward, towards states such as previously tranquil Burkina Faso. It is hoped this research may provide crucial insight into a widely misunderstood region in both Western popular imagination and policymaking circles.

This chapter provides firstly a discussion of how maritime security has been conceptualized by situating it in the broader discussions on the role of navies, transnational organized crime, state failure and the sustainable development... more

This chapter provides firstly a discussion of how maritime security has been conceptualized by situating it in the broader discussions on the role of navies, transnational organized crime, state failure and the sustainable development agenda. We then proceed in discussing the more particular debates on dedicated maritime security issues, in particular piracy, smuggling, and environmental crimes. We end in discussing a range of open questions that will be pertinent to strengthen our understanding of the maritime violence and development link.

Al conmemorarse una década desde que el ex presidente Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) declaró la Guerra contra el narcotráfico en México, este trabajo analiza la pertinencia de clasificar aquel enfrentamiento como un conflicto armado interno... more

Al conmemorarse una década desde que el ex presidente Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) declaró la Guerra contra el narcotráfico en México, este trabajo analiza la pertinencia de clasificar aquel enfrentamiento como un conflicto armado interno bajo los estándares de la legislación internacional. Se plantea como hipótesis que la confrontación desarrollada en territorio mexicano no cubre los parámetros establecidos para la existencia de un conflicto armado no internacional conforme al Derecho Internacional Humanitario, calificando más bien como ‘Otra Situación de Violencia’ conforme a la terminología propuesta por el Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja, escenario que no se encuentra contemplado en la jurisdicción internacional.