Hanna Samir Kassab

General Trends in Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime on a Global Scale

This chapter examines the trends in drug trafficking and organized crime, focusing on the evolution of organized crime. While some of the actors have changed and the world has evolved, there are some trends across time, particularly in the policy realm in terms of which policies have been effective and which have been less effective. Moreover, drug trafficking organizations present challenges not only for state security but also for regional security as a result of the violent tactics that some organizations employ.

Arms Trafficking: Small Arms and WMDs

There are 875 million small arms in the world, and the majority—650 million—are owned by civilians. Of the civilian stockpile, gangs have an estimated two to ten million arms. Moreover, non-state armed groups have between 1.1 and 1.8 million arms. Law enforcement has 26 million arms, while the armed forces have 200 million arms. This chapter is an effort to examine the trends in arms, particularly the trafficking in small weapons and WMDs.

Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking in the Americas: Trends and Challenges

It is not possible to examine trends in organized crime and drug trafficking without exploring the changing dynamics in the Latin American drug trade. The US government has spent billions of dollars on counter-narcotics initiatives, such as Plan Colombia and the Merida Initiative, to combat the supply and trafficking of drugs entering the United States from Latin America. This chapter examines the major trends in organized crime and drug trafficking in the region. It also focuses on the connection between Latin American countries and the United States, which is the number one drug-consuming country in the world. This chapter analyzes the evolution of organized crime over time. The result of counter-drug policies has been a splintering of organized criminal groups into smaller organizations that are harder to combat.

Illicit Superstructures: Banking, Middlemen, and Transport

In our complicated world, we must begin to dissect the manner in which illicit goods make their way around the world. We must also try to understand how these groups manage to hide/wash their money from law enforcement and the government. It is important to understand why, after more than 40 years since Nixon declared the war on drugs, drugs still manage to find their way into the United States not to mention other consumer-countries around the world. This chapter will discuss features of the international system that allow for the proliferation of illicit goods around the globe.

Human and Organ Trafficking

Human trafficking is a

Illicit Markets and the Internet Age

150 billion annual business. Sexual exploitation is the most profitable, accounting for

Illicit Markets: A Short Historical Summary

99 billion of the profits of the total annual business. This chapter examines the major trends in human trafficking and the challenges as criminal groups continue to move into this lucrative business in an effort to diversify their activities.

The Global South and the Neoempires of the United States and China

Communication has facilitated trade and transactions across states, helping to improve economic growth, development, and quality of life. The Internet, however, has taken this to a new level. While much is celebrated for this new era of information and learning, there is a dark side of the Internet that exists. This chapter will provide an overview of the Dark Web’s inner working as well as suggest prescriptions to neutralize, or at least clamp down, on these websites and practices.

States As Psychopaths; Theorists As Psychoanalysts: The Reason for War

As long as certain commodities and services are deemed illegal by the state, illicit markets will exist if there is significant demand for them. Prohibition gives illicit materials a higher price, as risk-takers form cartels and indulge in criminal operations to make as much money as possible. This has been true throughout history in most corners of the world. This chapter will discuss moments in history when the state tried to ban certain goods for the purpose of morality. Most of the time, the result has been the formation of black markets to supply the good.

Neoempires Under Construction: The European Union and Eurasian Union

This chapter will discuss the foreign policy activity of the United States and China with regards to the developing world. The United States found developing regions particularly important during the Cold War and continues to be a powerful force economically and politically. China has increased its own presence in these regions beginning in the 1990s. More recently, we have seen an increased interest in the developing world made manifest through the development of counter global development banking institutions. The battle between Bretton Woods institutions and BRICS institutions seeks to solidify a world-system to serve the prestige of leading states within these regimes. These two powers, the United States and China, are continuing to compete in these regions to create a political-economic bloc, a neoempire, serving its own power acquisition purposes.