ECPR General Conference Bordeaux 5-7 September 2013
Standing Group on Organised Crime Section
We are extremely happy to inform you that a Standing Group section entitled “Transnational Organised Crime in a Globalised World” has been accepted for the ECPR General conference, which will take place in Bordeaux from the 5th to the 7th of September 2013. It will be composed of 9 panels on the following topics: Transnational organized crime and terrorism Chair: Bill Tupman Co- chair: Liz Campbell The distinction between terrorism and organised crime has increasingly been blurred by governments and policy makers in order to escape due process in investigation and prosecution, and justify national security approaches, that involve suspending human rights. This panel wishes to look at whether the gloablization of reponses has genuinely reflected globalization in the nature of terrorism and organised crime?
Transnational organised crime, corruption, and state infiltration Chair: Anna Sergi Co- Chair: Anita Lavorgna This panel looks at an analysis of the links between corruption and organised crime, in particular the way in which organised crime groups exploit state institutions, affect voting processes and move away from violent street crimes, either in traditional crime settings and in new trends of white collar crime.
Transnational organised crime and “Gangster Politics” Chair: Panos Kostakos Co- chair: Petr Kupka Why is it that politicians behave like gangsters and gangsters like politicians? In order to better understand the linkages between organised crime, politics, and economics (legitimacy vs. legality), this panel will extrapolate and explore theoretical and behavioral synergies between the licit and illicit worlds.
Organised crime in cyberspace: governing, controlling and exploring cyber crime activities Chair: Helena Carrapico Co- chair: Javier Argomaniz Given modern societies’ increased reliance on borderless and decentralized information technologies, cyberspace has been identified as an easy target for actors such as organised criminals, hacktivists or terrorist networks. Such analysis has been accompanied by governmental calls to step up the fight against unlawful online activities, namely through increased cooperation among law enforcement authorities, the approximation of legislations, and public- private partnerships. This panel welcomes papers exploring cyber crime activities and methods, as well as their control by governmental and/ or international actors.
Transnational organised crime and criminal mobility Chair: Felia Allum Co- chair:Helena Carrapico This panel seeks to understand and analyse the different forms of groups, markets, and activities involved in criminal mobility. It will seek to analyse the different dynamics and logics behind criminal mobility in order to develop some theoretical and practical considerations as to how to understand it better and fight it more efficiently.
Transnational organised crime and human trafficking Chair: Jon Spencer Co- chair: Laura Requena Espada The moving of people across borders illegally is organised in different forms ( people smuggling, facilitation, and trafficking). To understand the dynamics of the illegal movement of people, this panel wishes to explore the different forms of how such crimes are organised and sustained.
“It’s all about the money”: Exploring the inter-relation between transnational organised crime and the economic crisis Chair: Yuliya Zabyelina Co- chair: Benjamin Farrand The global economic crisis has limited the ability of the State to provide for the economic and social well-being of its citizens, particularly as a result of austerity measures. As often happens, where social and economic needs are not fulfilled by legitimate enterprise or State function, organised crime steps in to accommodate these needs. This panels seeks to analyse the impact that the global economic crisis has had on organised crime activities and to explore organised crime groups’ strategies of adaptation to the current economic context.
The internal/ external continuum in transnational organised crime Chair: Francesca Longo Co- Chair: Daniela Irrera The panel aims at investigating the implication of the external dimension of JHA for the European security concept with particular focus on the reliance of the TOC issue in the process of interlinking EU domestic and external security.
Putting OC in place: How situational crime prevention can inform enhanced policy design Chair: Anita Lavorgna Co-Chair: Falko Ernst Departing from the local- and sphere-specific constitution of OC-phenomena, we examine how revisited models of situational crime prevention can pertinently inform policy approaches to traditional as well as novel forms of OC.