The (Geo)Politics of Organized Crime

4 Credits.

Students will engage with empirical evidence and demystify common perceptions of mafias and criminal under- and over- world. The course rests on the assumption that what most people know about criminal organizations comes from stereotypical representations in popular culture – films and literature. The analysis of real-world data, such as investigations, proceedings, crime statistics and economic/social science research findings dispels many of the accepted myths. Concepts from organizational studies (e.g., hierarchies and networks), the analysis of business and political economy (“the firm” and markets), political sociology (e.g., in-group cohesion, trust and symbolic power) and IR/political science (e.g., borders, sovereignty, globalization) will be used. We will also look closely into efforts by government and law enforcement agencies to respond transnational organized crime across jurisdictional or national borders in several sectors of activity and geopolitical contexts.