1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)
Contents
Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of figures; Acknowledgments; List of abbreviations; Introduction; Chapter 1: Geopolitics and organized crime: Delimiting the geopolitical subject and its relation to organized crime; Methodology for geopolitics; Methodology for research into organized crime; Notes; Chapter 2: Filling vacuums: Bourdieu and Alinsky meet Ratzel and Kissinger; Structures of power and competition within the nation-state; Outside the system, the non-integrated actors; Irregular strategies; Notes
Chapter 3: Cooperation between nation-states and organized crimeThe United States and "Godfather power"; Notes; Chapter 4: China and its invisible hand; Notes; Chapter 5: Soviet Union and Russia: The use of underground forces; Notes; Chapter 6: Conclusions and final considerations; Where the United States and China got it right and where the Soviet Union and Taiwan got it wrong-did Russia learn its lesson?; Notes; Bibliography; Index
Summary
Geopolitics is an increasingly important tool to understand national and international relations. This book unravels how organized crime is not just a marginal problem but part of a bigger geopolitical and asymmetrical warfare strategy. It seeks to establish a direct relationship between Nation States and organized crime groups. Many States have been using criminal and terrorist organizations as a policy for issues of national sovereignty or as a tool to strengthen a nation's geopolitical position. This book demonstrates how national states are utilizing criminal organizations in covert operations and "dirty jobs" such as espionage, proxy war, arms trafficking and sabotage. Examples from the United States, China and the Soviet Union are explored, providing both an historical and contemporary analysis, from World War II through to the Cold War and to the present day. The book brings together perspectives from international relations and criminology drawing on insights from a variety of sources, including public documents and interviews
