Topic 8: Globalisation, green crime, human rights and state crime

How has globalisation effected crime?

• Ian Taylor: TNCs move to LICs, creating insecure jobs (zero hrs contacts) + increasing unemployment in HICs. Deregulation increases corporate criminal opportunity, & emphasized individualism (undermining social cohesion) + led to a decrease in welfare, forcing more into poverty. Thus, increased criminal opportunity spatially, and at the top & bottom of society

• Beck: Globalization develops a "global risk consciousness" = risk global rather than located (eg the migrant crisis, far-right rise). Exacerbated by globalized media (Rupert Murdoch owns Fox- US, the Times- UK, Sky News- Australia) means moral panics are generated on international levels = two repercussions- intensification of social control on national level (eg Net Zero immigation) + international cooperation (eg EU Fortress Europe Policy) 

What is the global crime economy?

Held et al (1999): Globalisation has increased interconnectedness of crime across national borders, increasing the opportunities, new means of committing crime, and new offences, such a cyber-crimes.

 

Why theorised that a global crime economy has developed?

Held et al (1999)

How much is the global crime economy worth?

Over £1 trillion/ year

Which sociologists estimates the value of the global economy?

Manuel Castells (1998)

What statistic reveals the way both supply, and demand drive the global crime economy?

• Supply: 20% of Columbias population work in cocaine production

• Cocaine make up more that 50% of Columbian exports

What is global risk consciousness?

Beck (1992): Globalisation creates new insecurities and produces a new mentality of ‘risk consciousness’ in which risk is seen as global rather than tied to particular places (eg the migrant crisis, rise of the far-right)

Which sociologist theorised global risk consciousness?

Beck 1992

What how is the fear generated in a global risk society?

As media becomes more international (eg Rupert Murdoch owns Fox in the US, the Times in the UK and Sky News Australia in Australia) it generates moral panics on an international level which lead to much larger repercussions

Whats the 2 result of globalised risk?

• Intensification of social control on the national level (eg the Policy of Net Zero Immigration held in countries like Italy)

• International cooperation eg EU Fortress Europe policy

What are the links between globalisation, capitalism and crime? (3)

Ian Taylor (1997) writes from a socialist perspective:

-          TNCs move to LICs, creating job insecurity in LIC (due to the precarious nature of employment, eg zero hours contracts) and increase unemployment in HIC

-          Deregulation means governments have little control over their own economies, and spend less on welfare

-          Marketisation has encouraged people to see themselves as individuals, which undermines social cohesion

So opportunity for crime increases at the top and bottom of society

How does globalisation increase the opportunity for w/c people to turn to crime? (2)

Ian Taylor (1997):

• Marketisation has encouraged people to see themselves as individuals, which undermines social cohesion

• TNCs move to LICs, creating job insecurity in LIC (due to the precarious nature of employment, eg zero hours contracts) and increase unemployment in HIC

How does globalisation increase the opportunity for r/c people to turn to crime? (2)

Ian Taylor (1997):

• Deregulation of financial markets created opportunities for insider trading and the movements of funds around the globe to avoid taxation

• New patterns of employment also create opportunities for wage labour theft, eg zero hour contracts don`t have to provide sick pay or maternity leave. (eg Uber drivers sticking in Birmingham 2025)

Which sociologist identifies the links between globalisation, capitalism and crime?

Ian Taylor (1997)

How do international financial organizations create the conditions for crime?

Rother and Friedrichs (2015): They are dominated by the major capitalist powers (eg World Bank has 188 members, but just 5 countries - US, UK, France, Germany, Japan, hold 1/3 of voting rights). Therefore they impose pro-capitalist, neo-liberal economic “structural adjustments” as a condition for loans to poor countries (eg cutting food subsidies in Egpyt), allowing western corporations to expand into said countries, creating the conditions for r/c and w/c crime outlined by Ian Taylor

Name an example of how international organizations are dominated by Western capitalism

World Bank has 188 members, yet just 5 (Japan, USA, Germany, UK and France) hold over 1/3 of the voting rights

Which sociologists theorises the international financial organisations create the conditions for crime?

Rother and Friedrichs (2015)

What study by Rothe et al (2008) supports the theory that international financial organisations create the conditions for crime?

The program imposed on Rwanda in the 1980s caused mass unemployment, creating the economic conditions for the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Which sociologists carried out a study that support the theory that international financial organisations create the conditions for crime?

Rothe et al (2008)

How have patterns of criminal organisation been shaped by globalisation?

• Hobbs and Dunningham (1998): - Glocalsiation: Crime has become globalised, but still needs local criminal networks to sell the illegal assets eg drugs. Thus, crime becomes “glocal”, shaped by local (local networks of suppliers and dealers) and international conditions (eg drug availability). This has led to more flexible criminal organisations that the more self dependent, hierarchical “mafia style” gangs of the past

• Misha Glenny - McMafia: In the late 90s, neo-liberal policies coincided with the collapse of the USSR. Russians in positions of influence (eg Communist Party officials) thought up formerly state controlled industries, monopolizing the economy and becoming the new capitalist class (and oligarchs). To protect this wealth, they turned to “mafias”. Therefore, states have become increasingly reliant on criminal organistions to preserve wealth (eg seen by the Wager Group), as roles previously carried out by the state (eg the Police/army) are outsourced due to marketisation

How have criminal organisations changed as a result of globalisation according to Hobbs and Dunningham (1998)?

Glocalsiation: Crime has become globalised, but still needs local criminal networks to sell the illegal assets eg drugs. Thus, crime becomes “glocal”, shaped by local (local networks of suppliers and dealers) and international conditions (eg drug availability). This has led to more flexible criminal organisations that the more self dependent, hierarchical “mafia style” gangs of the past

Which sociologist theorised the changing nature of criminal organisation due to the interaction between global and local networks?

• Hobbs and Dunningham (1998): - Glocalsiation

How have criminal organisations changed as a result of globalisation according to Misha Glenny?

McMafia: In the late 90s, neo-liberal policies coincided with the collapse of the USSR. Russians in positions of influence (eg Communist Party officials) thought up formerly state controlled industries, monopolizing the economy and becoming the new capitalist class (and oligarchs). To protect this wealth, they turned to “mafias”. Therefore, states have become increasingly reliant on criminal organistions to preserve wealth (eg seen by the Wager Group), as roles previously carried out by the state (eg the Police/army) are outsourced due to marketisation

Which sociologist theorised the changing nature of criminal organisation due to the outsource of roles previously done by the state as a result of marketisation?

Misha Glenny - McMafia

Whats an example of how the climate change can create crime/ how human-made risk is generated?

1. Russian wheat exports reduced due to wildfires in 2010

2. Lead to 30% increase in bread prices in Mozambique

3. Resulted in food riots

How is todays late modern society a global risk society?

1. Beck (1992) we can now provide adequate resources to all, and eliminate utilitarian crime

2. However, massive technological advances that facilitate this have created new, “manufactured risks” on a global level

3. Eg the demand for energy supplies have increased the combusion of fossil fuels in cities, creating pollution

How does traditional criminology view green crime?

Not concerned, since its subject is defined by criminal law, and no law has been broken.

Whats the advantage of traditional criminologists outlook on green crime?

clearly defined subject matter with no grey areas.

What are the negatives of traditional criminologists outlook on green crime?

• It accepts official definitions, of environmental crime which are often shaped by powerful interest groups to serve business interest.

• Laws are different across different countries, so its hard to apply this definition internationally.

How does green criminology view green crime?

Rob White (green/white greenpeace logo) argues that criminology is anything that harms the physical environment and human/non-human animals around it, even if not law has been broken.

What are the advantages of green criminologists outlook on green crime?

Many of the worst environmental harm is not illegal, therefore these would be excluded from traditional criminologist definition.

Therefore green criminology is  transgresses – overlapping the boundaries of criminology to address a more expansive array of crimes.

It can develop a global perspective as its not limited by difference in the law from country to country.

What are Rob Whites (2008) two views of harm?

• Anthropocentric (human centered): Humans have the right to dominate nature for their own ends

• Ecocentric (eco centered): Humans and environment are interdependent and both susceptible to exploitation by global capitalism (1985 French secret service blew up the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, NZ, killing one crew member. The vessel was there in an attempt to prevent a green crime, namely French nuclear weapons testing in the south Pacific)

Why is state crime the most serious type of crime? (2)

Green and Ward (2012):

• State can inflict harm on huge scale (262m killed by governments in the 20th century), Khmer Rouge killed 1/5 of Cambodia pop in the 1980s

• State is the source of law: harder to challenge abuse, and easer to conceal their crimes

Who theorised that state crime is the most serious type of crime?

Green and Ward (2008)

What are the 4 types of state crime?

Eugene McLaughlin

• Political: censorship/corrupation

• Crimes by Police/Army (RSA): Murder of George Floyd in 2020

• Economic: Awarding of PPE contracts to friends, eg Dominic Cummings neighbor whos only experience was running a pub

• Social/cultural: Illegal to be gay in over 70 countries

Which sociologist theorised the 4 types of state crime?

Eugene McLaughlin

How many people were killed in the Rwandan genocide, and over what period?

800,000 killed in 100 days - mainly Tutsis killed by Hutus. 1/10 Rwandans

What year was the Rwandan genocide?

1994

What is state-corporate crime?

Kramer and Michalowski (1993):

• State initiated: 1953 Iranian coup to protect corporate oil interest

• State facilitated: Horizion oil rig disaster (2010) led to 11 direct deaths and largest oil spill in history, government regulators failed to oversee the industry adequately, allowing the crime

Which sociologist theorised state-corporate crimes?

Kramer and Michalowski (1993)

what makes a war illegal?

Any war is illegal (apart from self-defence) unless sanctioned by the UN Security council (eg Korea).

What are the different definitions of state crime?

• Social harm and zemiology - Hillyard et al (2004): includes state-facilitated poverty and prevents states from exempting themselves by making laws that enable wrongdoing + universal standard to assess which states cause the most harm to human and environmental well-being.

• International law: Eg Geneva convention on Human Rights. This approach avoids personal biases and uses globally agreed-upon definitions. Additionally, international law is specifically designed to address state crime, unlike most domestic laws.

What are Adorno et al (1950) explanations for state crime?

• Authoritarian personality: Willingness to obey orders of superiors unquestioningly, due to the charismatic control (convincing individuals to do carry out crime, eg the Kaiser in WW2 painting himself as embodiment of Germany) and authoritarian (forcing individuals to carry out crime, eg British threatening to shoot those that left the trenches in WW2)

• Crimes of obedience: The social conditions in which an atrocity took place, were not conforming to the crime becomes deviant. For example, in a corrupt police unit, the officer who accepts bribes is conforming to the units norms, while breaking the law.

How does “authoritarian personality” explain state crime?

Theodore Adorno:

Willingness to obey orders of superiors unquestioningly (eg Germans in ww2 had had a disciplinarian socialization due to the militarism of German society)

How do “crimes of obedience” explain state crime?

The social conditions in which an atrocity took place. For example, in a corrupt police unit, the officer who accepts bribes is conforming to the units norms, while breaking the law.

Which sociologist theorized that state crime is explained through authoritarian personality and crimes of obedience?

Adorno et al (1950)

How do Green and Ward (2012) explain state crime?

States creates “enclaves of barbarism” where torture is practised, eg military bases, are segregated from society. This allows torturers to regard it as a “9 to 5” jobs from which they can return to everyday life.

Which sociologist theorised that “enclaves of barbarism” explain state crime?

Green and Ward (2012)

How does Bauman explain state crime using modernity? (4)

• Political - Division of labour: Each responsible for just one small task, so easy to place responsibility upon others

• Political - Bureaucratic: Creating both distance (as a job) and dehumanising the victims as “units.

• Ideological - Instrumental rationality: Rational, efficient methods are used to achieve goals

• Economic - Science and technology: Eg the necessity of railway systems to facilitate the Holocaust.

How does division of labour explain state crime? (Bauman)

Each responsible for just one small task, so easy to place responsibility upon others

How does bureaucracy explain state crime? (Bauman)

Creating both distance (as a job) and dehumanising the victims as “units.”

How does instrumental rationality explain state crime? (Bauman)

Rational, efficient methods are used to achieve goals

How does science and technology explain state crime? (Bauman)

Eg the necessity of railway systems to facilitate the Holocaust.

How is state crime hidden according to Cohen?

“States of denial” theory:

Stage 1: It didn’t happen, e.g. the state claims there was no massacre.
Stage 2: If it did happen, “it” was something else, the state says is self-defence not murder.

Stage 3: “Even if it was what you say it is, its justified” eg the fight for the War on Terror.

What are the techniques of neutralization states use to justify state crime according to Cohen?

Denial of victims: They are terrorists, they do this to themselves.

Appeal to higher loyalty: Justified by higher cause eg Zionism (Israel) or Islam (ISIS), defence of the free world. Buddhism in Myanmar,