Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. It is becoming more important in the modern, globalized period to understand the power of illicit and illegal acts and actors in shaping our world. Opening with chapters that look across the diverse terrain of global crime, this Research Agenda moves on to consider key specific areas, including: organised crime, cyber crime, war crimes, terrorism, state and private violence, riots and political protest, prisons, sport and crime and counterfeit goods. Offering both critical reviews of key theories and in-depth case studies, this Research Agenda challenges the notion that criminal acts in a global age are solely the preserve of organised criminal groups, highlighting the role of other actors including governments, armies and corporations. A vital source of reference for criminology and sociology undergraduate, and post-graduate students, as well as those from a host of other social science disciplines, this Research Agenda will provoke thought and discussion across these topics. It will also be of great benefit for policy makers and practitioners working to better understand and combat transnational crime.

This book develops the idea that the Cosa Nostra Sicilian mafia likes and, more than any other criminal organization, follows the patterns of capitalist transformation. The author presents analysis of the mafia under post-fordism capitalism, showing how they rely on increasingly more flexible networks for reasons of both cost and dodging police control, as well as changing their core businesses in relation to the risk that some activities, such as drug trafficking, are likely to incur. Combining sociology, criminology and labour sociology, the book provides an interpretation of Cosa Nostra which focuses on the connection between legal and illegal economies and politics, thus doing away with the idea that organized crime is always an external entity to society. An authoritative and original study, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of criminal justice, politics and economics.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. It is becoming more important in the modern, globalized period to understand the power of illicit and illegal acts and actors in shaping our world. Opening with chapters that look across the diverse terrain of global crime, this Research Agenda moves on to consider key specific areas, including: organised crime, cyber crime, war crimes, terrorism, state and private violence, riots and political protest, prisons, sport and crime and counterfeit goods. Offering both critical reviews of key theories and in-depth case studies, this Research Agenda challenges the notion that criminal acts in a global age are solely the preserve of organised criminal groups, highlighting the role of other actors including governments, armies and corporations. A vital source of reference for criminology and sociology undergraduate, and post-graduate students, as well as those from a host of other social science disciplines, this Research Agenda will provoke thought and discussion across these topics. It will also be of great benefit for policy makers and practitioners working to better understand and combat transnational crime.

This book develops the idea that the Cosa Nostra Sicilian mafia likes and, more than any other criminal organization, follows the patterns of capitalist transformation. The author presents analysis of the mafia under post-fordism capitalism, showing how they rely on increasingly more flexible networks for reasons of both cost and dodging police control, as well as changing their core businesses in relation to the risk that some activities, such as drug trafficking, are likely to incur. Combining sociology, criminology and labour sociology, the book provides an interpretation of Cosa Nostra which focuses on the connection between legal and illegal economies and politics, thus doing away with the idea that organized crime is always an external entity to society. An authoritative and original study, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of criminal justice, politics and economics.