Edward Elgar Publishing Handbook of Organised Crime and Politics (Elgar Handbooks in Political Science)

This multidisciplinary Handbook examines the complex and often hidden relationship between organised crime and politics across the globe, highlighting the difficulties involved in researching such relationships and offering new insights into how they evolve to become pervasive and destructive. Organised into five distinct sections, key chapters focus on issues and case studies from across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Eurasia and international organisations in order to provide a new and systematic picture and analysis of what the relationship between criminal organisations and politics looks like in different national contexts. In so doing, it offers an insight into the ever-evolving nature of this relationship, and the exchanges within it, in order to identify common features and key differences. These in turn raise provoking questions regarding the possibility of improving democracy, political systems, civil society and economic systems in order to counter the possible infiltration of these organisations, their associates and representatives. Students and scholars of public policy, politics, criminology and those focussing on organised crime more specifically will find this Handbook an original and engaging guide to the current state of play, whilst policy makers, practitioners and NGOs will find the case studies set in national context eminently valuable. Contributors include: S. Adorno, F. Allum, J. Arsovska, M. Beare, M. Bedetti, G. Borrelli, S. Brady, D. Bright, J.-L. Briquet, A. Chung, N. Dalponte, A. De Vos, C.N. Dias, S. Dinnen, G. Favarel-Garrigues, J. Gilbert, S. Gilmour, C. Gunnarson, E. Gutterman, C. Hemmings, A. Idler, D. Islas, J. Janssens, S. Jeperson, M. Joutsen, A. Kupatadze, R. Le Cour Grandmaison, S. Lemière, A. Markovska, V. Mete, S. Musau, A. Orlova, I. Roberge, A. Rostami, D. Silverstone, M. Shaw, D. Smith Jr., F. Strazzari, M. Tzvetkova, C. van Ham, G. Walton, J. Wheatley, J. Whittle, Y. Zabyelina, G. Zanoletti Review 'Felia Allum and Stan Gilmour have put together a truly global collection of case studies on the nexus between crime and politics. It makes a valuable contribution to a highly dynamic field of research at the intersection of political science and criminology.' --Klaus von Lampe, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Germany 'As this book recognises, ''organised crime'' has historically been a contested and ambiguous concept, leaving a contemporary legacy of regularly shifting scientific and policy inquiry, even more so in cross-cultural contexts. But irrespective of how we construct 'it', the intrinsic and extrinsic political dimensions of organised crime and its control that this book foregrounds ought to be central to those researching in this area. This timely collection provides an expansive overview of organised crime and politics, and the politics of organised crime, from a diverse array of nation states across the globe and at the supranational level, making a valued contribution to the literature.' --Nicholas Lord, University of Manchester, UK 'This is a very important collection, bringing together key experts in the field to offer insights into the opaque nexus between politics and organised crime.' --Elizabeth David Barrett, University of Sussex, UK About the Author Edited by Felia Allum, Senior Lecturer, Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies, University of Bath and Stan Gilmour, Local Policing Area Commander, Thames Valley Police, Reading, UK