The overlaps between human trafficking and other forms of organized crime have been widely recognised. However, policy responses frequently adopt siloed approaches, viewing human trafficking in isolation.
Recognising this, this special section aims to explore and advance the discourse on the overlaps between human trafficking and other organized crime markets, including drug trafficking, extortion, illicit trade, counterfeiting, and environmental crime.
Overlaps may
The special section also seeks to shed light on the current gaps and challenges in response frameworks and approaches adopted to counter contexts where human trafficking and other criminal markets overlap.
We encourage contributions which explore the mapping of illicit geography and examine geographical convergence. This includes researching the characteristics which shape the emergence of hubs or hotspots of illicit activity where human trafficking overlaps with other illicit markets. These spaces where human trafficking intersects with other illicit activities may include casinos, sports events, tourist hotspots, areas of natural resource exploration, borderlands.
We invite contributions from around the world and a broad range of disciplines, including anthropology, geography, sociology, criminology, political science, and international relations.
We particularly encourage submissions exploring overlaps which have received less research attention to date.
For more information see the full Call for Papers here.
Planned date of publication: Summer 2022.
Deadline for submission of abstracts and LOIs: 15th August 2021.
Please submit your abstract and bio to the editors:
Posted on 22 Jun 2021
This special issue aims to explore the human impacts (e.g. impacts on livelihoods lives, human rights, freedom of expression etc.) of environmental crime - how people, communities and populations are affected by the illicit trade in and demand for environmental commodities.
The human cost and impact of this trade can sometimes be a neglected area of research, where predominantly analysis has instead focused (understandably) on the impact on particular species survival and wider biodiversity concerns and impacts. It is now widely accepted that the trafficking in environmental commodities and the illicit exploitation of natural resources is dramatically affecting the biodiversity of the planet. And there is a growing discourse of analysis that explores how this trade and exploitation of our natural resources, at the same time, finances corruption and criminal actors as well as affecting governance systems in many regions around the world.
Resources – both natural and financial - are however being diverted from individuals, communities and populations and exacerbating fragility. In some cases, criminal, violent and/or exploitative actors, are engaging individuals and communities at various points along the supply chains to support the extraction, transport and sale (or disposal) of commodities. In many cases this can cause direct human harm and can impact upon the human rights, livelihoods, lives, freedom of expressions, etc. of affected individuals and communities. This call for papers therefore aims to understand the more direct human impacts of these trends and we welcome original contributions exploring the linkages and impacts of environmental crime on individuals and communities in all its dimensions.
In order to offer a broad empirical, qualitative approach, we welcome contributions from various disciplines, including (but not exclusively) sociology, economics, anthropology, history and international relations, as well as policy analyses from activists, NGO leaders, or practitioners. In this time of COVID-19 lockdowns and uncertainty within academia, we particularly encourage submissions by female scholars, precariously employed faculty-members, academics from less traditional backgrounds. We would also encourage geographically specific contributions from Asia and we may be able to provide language and translation support for original contributions not in English. Please contact the co-editors (below) to discuss possibilities.
For more information see the full Call for Papers here.
Planned date of publication: February 2022.
Deadline for submission of abstracts and LOIs: 31st July 2021.
Please submit your abstract and bio to both editors:
Posted on 01 Jun 2021
This special section explores the ways in which heterogeneous governance actors, including formal state, private enterprises and organized criminal groups, co-produce cities.
As spaces that concentrate economic wealth and political power cities are prone to struggles over the distribution of resources and often become arenas in which negotiations between the formal state and illicit actors - such as militia, mafia, drug trafficking and paramilitary groups – materialize and shape bodies, architectures and the built environment in general. Alongside this, security enforcers are also constantly diversifying their economic bases beyond classical protection rackets, building and shaping illicit value and production chains. As organized crime “weaponizes” formal urban development, and private and public enterprises depend on governing illicit territories and economies, citizens’ ability to own, manage, and access resources such as land, construction materials, apartments and urban utilities (water, electric energy and gas) is severely limited. This urges us to include the particular materialities of urban protection rackets in the analysis of illicit urbanization.
We invite contributions from around the world and a broad range of academic disciplines, including but not limited to anthropology, geography, sociology, criminology, political science, and international relations.
In addition to full length research papers, we also invite policy analyses from activists, NGO leaders, or practitioners. In their contributions, authors are invited to respond to (some of) the following questions:
For more information see the full Call for Papers here.
Planned date of publication: April 2022.
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 20 May 2021.
Please submit your abstract and bio to both editors: f.i.mueller@uva.nl; j.h.j.weegels@uva.nl.
Posted on 15 Apr 2021
This journal special issue will advance the conversation on illicit drug markets in the Americas by fostering cross-fertilization among different methodologies and perspectives that have been previously analyzed as self-contained phenomena. It will provide an opportunity to observe the full cycle of illicit drugs production, trafficking, and consumption throughout North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Furthermore, it will promote a more comprehensive understanding of the social dynamics of development, violence, and drug policies; the way that these issues are addressed by the twenty-three national governments of the region, and the many more regional or local institutions that exist within each; and the mutual dependencies that exist between all of the region's multiple drug trades.
For suggested themes and more information see the full Call for Papers: English and Spanish
Deadline for submission:
Deadline for submission of Letters of Intent (LOIs) is on December 4, 2020. LOIs submitted after this deadline will not be considered. LOIs should be sent to invited editors Cecilia Farfán-Méndez, Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Nathaniel Morris and John Collins. Their contact details can be found in the Call for Papers: English and Spanish
Planned date of publication: Winter 2021
Posted on 27 Oct 2020
This special issue aims at highlighting the state of the art of an understudied problem looking at the interactions between illicit economies, violence, and environmental factors for countries and vulnerable communities. For further information, please download the Call for Papers.
We welcome original contributions exploring the linkages and impacts of illicit economies on the environment in all its dimensions. This includes potentially novel perspectives such as the environmental effect of policies addressing the nexus between illicit economies and the environment, as well as decentralized responses by organized communities in rural and urban contexts.
Deadline for Submission:
Deadline for submission of Letters of Intent (LOIs) is on 30 June 2020. LOIs submitted after this deadline will not be considered. Decisions will be communicated by the end of July 2020. Invited papers will be subject to the usual JIED peer review processes (based on a double-blind peer review). Authors commit to produce a final manuscript in JIED house style by 30 October 2020.
LOIs should be sent to invited editors Maria Alejandra Velez, Director of the Center for the Study of security and Drugs (CESED), Facultad de Economia, Universidad de los Andes; Juan Carlos Garzon, Ideas for Peace Foundation and Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center; Daniel Brombacher, Head, Global Partnership on Drug Policies and Development, GIZ GmbH. Their contact details can be found in the Call for Papers.
Posted on 22 Mar 2020