Is democracy responsible for persistent corruption in some developing countries? The case of Ghana
The objective of this article is to answer a fundamental question: Should democracy be blamed for corruption in Ghana ’s Fourth Republic? In addressing this question, this article uses interviews, media reports, Ghana’s constitution, relevant governance indices, and scholarly literature to argue that if constitutionalism and the rule of law, vital to democratic governance, are not respected, democracy cannot be blamed for the persistent corruption in Ghana. Hence, for democracy to help curb corruption, citizens—mainly the power elite—must take a keen interest in promoting constitutionalism and the rule of law. Base...
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - December 18, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
Conflict mitigation or governance choreographies? Scaling up and down state-criminal negotiations in Medellin and lessons for Mexico
This article asks: can negotiations reduce violence and generate peace? I argue that the homicide reduction potential of negotiations depends on the cohesion of the state and on the cohesion and hierarchical control of criminal groups. This in turn generates two challenges for peacebuilding: the challenge of scaling up and down security gains beyond homicide reduction, and the challenge of creating three-way arrangements that include civilians and navigate the blurry boundaries between states, civilians, and criminal actors. To conceptualize these challenges, I also distinguish top-down and bottom-up negotiations and argue...
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - December 11, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
The implications of illicit networks for changes in anti-narcotics policies
AbstractMexico, like many other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean suffering persistent violence, has sought to shift its anti-narcotics and organized crime control policies to develop more effective responses to the crime challenges that the country faces. Building on research in Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, and Mexico, this essay develops an analysis of crime as embedded within political, soci al, and economic networks that provide criminal activity with broad cross-sectoral support. This cross-sectoral support for criminal activity - which can involve both official corruption but also social support from entr...
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - December 8, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
Crude Realities: Oil, Corruption, and Anti-corruption campaigns
AbstractThe past decade witnessed a surge in anti-corruption activities in post-Soviet oil-dependent countries. Despite the scale of the anti-corruption measures, and their political implications, the extant literature paid limited attention to the comparison of these campaigns, including differences in their motivations, functions, objectives, and targets. Aiming to fill this research gap, this study employs a mixed-methods research design that combines fixed-effects panel data analysis with a paired-case qualitative analysis of Russia and Kazakhstan. I argue that anti-corruption policies are the result of either economic...
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - December 8, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
The implications of illicit networks for changes in anti-narcotics policies
AbstractMexico, like many other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean suffering persistent violence, has sought to shift its anti-narcotics and organized crime control policies to develop more effective responses to the crime challenges that the country faces. Building on research in Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, and Mexico, this essay develops an analysis of crime as embedded within political, soci al, and economic networks that provide criminal activity with broad cross-sectoral support. This cross-sectoral support for criminal activity - which can involve both official corruption but also social support from entr...
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - December 8, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
Crude Realities: Oil, Corruption, and Anti-corruption campaigns
AbstractThe past decade witnessed a surge in anti-corruption activities in post-Soviet oil-dependent countries. Despite the scale of the anti-corruption measures, and their political implications, the extant literature paid limited attention to the comparison of these campaigns, including differences in their motivations, functions, objectives, and targets. Aiming to fill this research gap, this study employs a mixed-methods research design that combines fixed-effects panel data analysis with a paired-case qualitative analysis of Russia and Kazakhstan. I argue that anti-corruption policies are the result of either economic...
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - December 8, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
The “New Wars”: security and cooperation in Mexico and Northern Central America
This article analyzes the current security crisis in Mexico and northern Central America from a comparative and subregional perspective. It does so by focusing on the “new wars” waged by the governments of these countries since the early 2000s against transnational criminal organizations and youth gangs. While acknowledging the weight and impact of these criminal actors in these countries’ levels of insecurity and violence, we suggest these challenges canno t be understood without looking at the series of political missteps that have repeatedly derailed efforts to build accountable institutions and comprehensive poli...
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - November 30, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
“Incitement of insurrection”: Criminogenic antecedents and potential policy responses
AbstractOn January 6th, 2021, a mob of more than 2,000 Trump supporters stormed the Capital —at his urging—in an effort to halt counting of electoral college votes from the 2020 Presidential Election. Vandalism, injury, and loss of life ensued. Although the actions of Trump and the insurrectionists were alarming, the structural factors that gave rise to this offense are arguably even m ore troubling. In this paper, we outline three “criminogenic antecedents” that provided individual actors an opportunity to incite insurrection: (1) a lack of clarity and consensus in conceptualizations of crime, which has resulted i...
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - November 23, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
Book Review: Political corruption: the internal enemy of public institutions, by Emanuela Ceva and Maria Paola Ferretti, Oxford University Press (2021)
(Source: Crime, Law and Social Change)
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - November 23, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
“Incitement of insurrection”: Criminogenic antecedents and potential policy responses
AbstractOn January 6th, 2021, a mob of more than 2,000 Trump supporters stormed the Capital —at his urging—in an effort to halt counting of electoral college votes from the 2020 Presidential Election. Vandalism, injury, and loss of life ensued. Although the actions of Trump and the insurrectionists were alarming, the structural factors that gave rise to this offense are arguably even m ore troubling. In this paper, we outline three “criminogenic antecedents” that provided individual actors an opportunity to incite insurrection: (1) a lack of clarity and consensus in conceptualizations of crime, which has resulted i...
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - November 23, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
Book Review: Political corruption: the internal enemy of public institutions, by Emanuela Ceva and Maria Paola Ferretti, Oxford University Press (2021)
(Source: Crime, Law and Social Change)
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - November 23, 2023 Category: Criminology Source Type: research
