State and Corporate Drivers of Global Dysnomie: Horrendous Crimes and the Law

Twyman-Ghoshal, Anamika ORCID: 0000-0003-4076-6687 and Passas, Nikos (2015) State and Corporate Drivers of Global Dysnomie: Horrendous Crimes and the Law. In: The Routledge International Handbook of the Crimes of the Powerful. Routledge, London, pp. 105-120. ISBN 9781315815350

Preview

Text 11932 Twyman-Ghoshal (2015) Chapter 'State and corporate drivers of global dysnomie - horrendeous crimes and the law' from 'The Routledge International Handbook of the Crimes of the Powerful'.pdf - Draft Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 4.0. Download (307kB) | Preview

Abstract

The press is awash with accounts of serious cross-border crimes; the responsibility for which is attributed to dangerous and radical groups. This has included the Islamic State, “bad apples” working in banks, organized criminal groups, and rogue state actors. The responses to these kinds of problems have ranged from a tsunami of international conventions against terrorism, transnational crime and corruption, intensified intelligence operations, military interventions, and humanitarian projects. As the current approaches do not seem to yield the desired results – as crime threats continue to grow – it is important to transcend discourses that individualize and externalize blame and examine structural sources of these risks in search of better, less costly, and more effective policies. Typically, crime control policies focus on supply rather than demand. For instance, policies focus on eliminating the production and exports of illegal drugs rather than trying to reduce the demand that gives rise to profitable illegal markets. In this analysis the approach is to look back and consider the role played by decisions, policies, and initiatives in the global North, by public and corporate actors. This is not merely an attempt at broadening accountability but a way to identify the extent to which neoliberal policies contribute to criminogenic processes. In order to shed light on these criminogenic processes, this chapter employs the analytical framework of global anomie theory (GAT) and focuses on two case studies. The first one is maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia, where efforts have centered on improving the governance of the state, tackling the al Shabaab group, and assisting with famine and economic challenges. The second one is the theft of the Chagossian nation, a case of forced eviction of an entire people against a host of basic international legal principles. Despite the globalization of media and availability of information on this case, it is a story that the mainstream media has ignored for the most part. Both case studies deal with what can be termed “horrendous crimes”, a term to capture a set of behaviors broader than those officially defined as illegal or criminal. With this term we refer to practices that constitute a serious threat and cost to society but may be deemed lawful by certain legal standards. We understand the essence of crime as: “misconduct that entails avoidable and unnecessary harm to society, which is serious enough to warrant state intervention and similar to other kinds of acts criminalized in the countries concerned” (Passas, 1999, p. 401). By using this broader definition we do not distance ourselves from legal standards, but seek to avoid national laws that may be unhelpful for the defining of global phenomena because of their domestic particularities, biases, and political agendas (Friedrichs, 2007). These crimes include transnational and international crime, as well as state, corporate, and state-corporate crimes. The latter crimes often fall below the radar of conventional criminology, but are crucial to consider since they exacerbate economic inequality within and across nations (UN, 2002) and have broader criminogenic effects. The chapter begins with an outline of the analytical framework, proceeds with the two case studies, and concludes with research and policy implications.

Item Type:	Book Section
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology. H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology. > HV6001 Criminology J Political Science > JZ International relations
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Research Priority Areas:	Society and Learning
Depositing User:	Anamika Twyman Ghoshal
Date Deposited:	09 Dec 2022 10:21
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 08:25
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/11932

University Staff: Request a correction | Repository Editors: Update this record