Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The subject matter of this essay is the intersection of two issues, which have become of increasing interest to international studies scholars and practitioners, namely international organization and crime and corruption . The fact that “organization” is in the singular means that “international organization” refers to the way the world is organized on an international level, including the creation of international organizations (in the plural). The essay also sees transnational crime and its unavoidable lubricant, corruption, as an institution; albeit dynamic and protean ( Madsen 2009 ). So-called transnational organized crime has become of importance to international relations scholars and practitioners over the last decade or two in a manner which few could have imagined at an earlier stage. As a consequence, both scholars and in particular practitioners have to reflect upon and deal with subjects, which hitherto had been less than central to their concerns, such as extradition, international surveillance and control mechanisms, and the transnational transfer of data. The essay is divided into two main parts, respectively dealing with transnational organized crime and with corruption. This introduction is followed by a section examining Foucault's contributions – including the academic spin-off known as “surveillance studies” – and the various models built by criminologists ... log in or subscribe to read full text