The Center for Complex Operations (CCO) has produced this edited volume, Convergence: Illicit Networks and National Security in the Age of Globalization, that delves deeply into everything mentioned above and more. In a time when the threat is growing, this is a timely effort. CCO has gathered an impressive cadre of authors to illuminate the important aspects of transnational crime and other illicit networks. They describe the clear and present danger and the magnitude of the challenge of converging and connecting illicit networks; the ways and means used by transnational criminal networks and how illicit networks actually operate and interact; how the proliferation, convergence, and horizontal diversification of illicit networks challenge state sovereignty; and how different national and international organizations are fighting back. A deeper understanding of the problem will allow us to then develop a more comprehensive, more effective, and more enduring solution.
Contents
Chapters
- 1 Deviant Globalization
- 2 Lawlessness and Disorder: An Emerging Paradigm for the 21st Century
- 3 Can We Estimate the Global Scale and Impact of Illicit Trade?
- 4 The Illicit Supply Chain
- 5 Fixers, Super Fixers, and Shadow Facilitators: How Networks Connect
- 6 The Geography of Badness: Mapping the Hubs of the Illicit Global Economy
- 7 Threat Finance: A Critical Enabler for Illicit Networks
- 8 Money Laundering into Real Estate
- 9 The Criminal State
- 10 How Illicit Networks Impact Sovereignty
- 11 Counterinsurgency, Counternarcotics, and Illicit Economies in Afghanistan: Lessons for State-Building
- 12 Fighting Networks with Networks
- 13 The Department of Defense’s Role in Combating Transnational Organized Crime
- 14 Collaborating to Combat Illicit Networks Through Interagency and International Efforts
