The Global Fix
The Construction of a Global Enforcement Regime
TNI Briefing Paper 3, October 2005

In this issue of Crime & Globalisation, Michael Woodiwiss and Dave Bewley-Taylor track the history of the concept of organised crime and its metamorphosis into a ‘transnational’ phenomenon allegedly posing a serious threat to global world order. They show how the United States has dominated the construction of a global enforcement regime by interlinking concepts of drugs prohibition and combating organised crime.
Spanish version:
La componenda global. La construcción de un régimen global de control
Italian version:
An Italian version of the briefing is published in a series by Fuoriluogo, a monthly magazine that is distributed with Il Manifesto newspaper.

Global Enforcement Regimes: Transnational Organised Crime, International Terrorism and Money Laundering [PDF document]
Report TNI Seminar 28-29 April 2005
To fight the threats of drug trafficking, money laundering, transnational organized crime and international terrorism, a global enforcement regime has been created - mainly on the basis of the US's national security priorities. The US has been able to force its agenda on the international community using its unparalleled resources and diplomatic strength. At the UN and G8 level conventions against transnational organised crime and regulations to counter money laundering are accepted, while the UN Security Council has set in motion a global programme against international terrorism. At the level of the European Union a similar process is taking place in order to harmonize its justice and security area. The result is that measures are pushed through international fora that undermine and endanger civil liberties and privacy.

Seminar Papers:

• The Global Fix: Neo-liberalism, America's Moral Crusade and International Efforts to Control Transnational Organized Crime - by David Bewley-Taylor, Department of American Studies, University of Wales Swansea (UK), and Michael Woodiwiss, University of West of England, Bristol (UK)
• Controlling the international money trail: What Lessons Have Been Learned? - by Michael Levi, Professor of Criminology, Cardiff School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University (UK)
• Fear-based Security: The Political Economy of 'Threat' - by Margaret Beare, Nathanson Centre for the Study of Organized Crime and Corruption, York University (Toronto, Canada)
• A Critical Evaluation of the UN Counter-Terrorism Program: Accomplishments and Challenges - by David Cortright, Fourth Freedom Forum (US)
• The exceptional and draconian become the norm: The emerging counter-terrorism regime - by Tony Bunyan, Statewatch (UK)

The Ecstasy Industry
Exploring the Global Market
TNI Briefing Series 9, December 2004
Ecstasy will become Public Enemy No.1 in the period ahead, according to the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Mr. Antonio Maria Costa. However, little is known about the illicit ecstasy industry. Figures produced by the UNODC seem to be over-exaggerated. In this briefing, TNI will take a close look at the figures of the global ecstasy market, as well as the position of The Netherlands in synthetic drug production and trafficking. An attempt will be made to try to explain why Dutch groups have gained and maintained prominence on the global ecstasy market since its genesis in the late 1980s.
Spanish version:
La industria del éxtasis: Desarrollos del mercado mundial

The Economic Impact of the Illicit Drug Industry [PDF document]
Report TNI Seminar 5-6 December 2003
Goal of the seminar was to assess the global business volume of the illegal drug industry and to look where the illegal proceeds of the industry are going. Issues discussed included: the size of the illicit drug economy and the flows, investments and collusion of drugs money in the legal economy and its alleged funding of international terrorism. The seminar illustrated the widespread recourse to inflated figures, doubtful evaluation processes and the institutional need for numbers.

The Numbers' Game: Let's All Guess the Size of the Illegal Drugs Industry! [PDF document]
Francisco Thoumi, Paper TNI Seminar 5-6 December 2003

Failed and Collapsed States in the International System [PDF document]
Report TNI, African Studies Centre (Leiden), Center of Social Studies (Coimbra University, Portugal) and Peace Research Center CIP-FUHEM (Madrid), December 2003
The aims to signpost areas of attention in the light of current and possible future trends in regard to the number of failing states in the world. Unlike most other studies in this field, this project looks to explain state failure not just in terms of endogenous factors but also in terms of the impact of international factors and context. Furthermore, it looks at the effect of failed states internationally. The project challenges the idea that failed states can be technically rehabilitated without a reshaping of the international system of governance itself.

Synthetic Drugs Trafficking in Three European Cities
Major Trends and the Involvement of Organised Crime
Gruppo Abele/TNI/IECAH, Turin, March 2003
This publication gathers the outcomes of the project with the same title, which investigated three urban synthetic drug markets at a different stage of development: Amsterdam, Barcelona and Turin. The study - the first of this type at European level - outlines a composite picture which clearly indicates the presence of rather flexible and dynamic actors. The wide use of primary sources, altogether the adoption of qualitative interpretative tools, contributed to shed some light on a phenomenon which is still poorly investigated both at national and international levels.