Women,brokerage and transnational organized crime. Empirical results from the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor

This paper analyzes the role of women in various types of transnational organized crime and tests the ‘gendered markets’ hypothesis by Zhang et al. (Criminology 45(3):699–733 2007) for a wide cross-section of 150 cases from the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor. The main information sources for the Dutch Organized Crime Monitor are closed Dutch police investigations into criminal groups, often spanning a period of several years. Following four data sweeps, a wide cross-section of 150 cases was collected about various forms of organized crime (period 1994–2011): ‘traditional’ drug trafficking cases (cocaine, heroin, and cannabis), but also other—less frequently prioritized—phenomena such as synthetic drugs (production and export), human smuggling, human trafficking, and fraud and money laundering. The paper discusses several important theoretical perspectives from the organized crime literature: the gendered markets hypothesis; the social embeddedness of (transnational) organized crime: and the idea of brokerage. Furthermore, empirical data are presented on how often women play a (prominent) role in different types of criminal activities and which roles they play. These findings are related to the ‘gendered markets’ hypothesis and alternative explanations. Further qualitative analysis is presented on the transnational aspects which can be discerned in the studied cases: transnational marriage and transnational relationships; language and mediation; and migration and legal status. Finally, the main conclusions are discussed as well as their theoretical and empirical relevance.     

Reviews and commentatry

CIAs inspector general — the DCI's independent eye: another view

Misplaced loyalties: the Pollards and “friends”

Wolf Blitzer: Territory of Lies: The Exclusive Story of Jonathan Jay Pollard: The American Who Spied on His Country for Israel and How He Was Betrayed. Harper & Row, New York, 1989, 336 p., $22.50.

Counterintelligence: hazards and goofs

Ronald Kessler: Spy vs. Spy: Stalking Soviet Spies in America Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1988, 308 p., $19.95.

The Lincoln assassination and the confederate secret service

William A. Tidwell, with James O. Hall and David Winfred Gaddy: Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, Miss., 510 p., HB $38.50, PB $17.95.

A brief tour of American intelligence

Bruce D. Berkowitz and Allan E. Goodman: Strategic Intelligence for American National Security Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1989, 232 p., $19.95.

Les miserables in modern dress

Peter Maas: Manhunt: The Incredible Pursuit of a CIA Agent Turned Terrorist Random House, New York, 196, 301 p., $18.75.

Yale at war

Robin W. Winks: Cloak & Gown: Scholars in the Secret War, 1939–1961 William Morrow, New York, 1987, 322 p., $22.95.     

The success of a policy model: Irrigation management transfer in Mexico

Abstract

The Mexican policy of Irrigation Management Transfer has been widely propagated as a success and has become a model for other countries seeking to improve the performance of their irrigation systems while also cutting public expenditures. This article analyses the process of policy-making that has generated the policy model and follows the practices, means, and events through which it has achieved increasing transnational circulation, popularity, and support. The main argument of this article is that the success of a policy model is only a success within the cultural and ideological understandings of a policy network and given the means, practices, and events that generate and disseminate it. This particular case further suggests that success in policy-making, rather than being based on straightforward evidence of improved management performance, is often part of a cultural performance.     

Stalking and Huntington’s Disease: A Neurobiological Link?

This case report describes a patient with Huntington's Disease (HD) who allegedly stalked her therapist. The patient developed recurrent thoughts about her therapist as well as amorous feelings towards her therapist. She engaged in stalking behavior including unwelcome gifts, multiple telephone calls to the therapist's office and home, and making threats towards the therapist. The patient continued to contact the therapist after the therapist filed a Personal Protection Order. The patient was successfully treated with risperidone and fluvoxamine. Through a focused review of the relevant literature, the authors explore the potential relationship between the patient's obsessional thoughts, amorous feelings towards her therapist, the basal ganglia dysfunction, and the stalking behavior. The authors posit a hypothesis of stalking as a novel early manifestation of HD in this patient. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of stalking occurring with potentially causal organic lesions.     

Past Reflections, Future Insights: African Asylum Law and Policy in Historical Perspective

This article argues that an understanding of the evolution ofasylum is an essential ingredient in the search for ideas andperspectives to the plight facing forced migrants. Using Kenyaas a case study, the paper evaluates the extent to which proceduresused to determine claims for asylum, protection outcomes andentitlements met international human rights and refugee lawstandards. It is contended that limited resources, porous boundariesand the mass movement of asylum seekers have compromised thelevel of protection offered to those who seek surrogate protectionin African states like Kenya. In conclusion, critics in thearea of asylum are challenged to undertake historical studies,as a way towards offering best practise lessons for those involvedin the protection of persons forced to flee their home states.     

MOVING INTO GLOBAL COMPETITION: A Case Study of Alabama's Recruitment of Mercedes-Benz

Globalization is changing the game of economic development, but the emerging rules and optimal strategies remain somewhat unclear. The Mercedes case discussed in this article illustrates the rough and uncertain nature of this transition. From the perspective of the traditional strategy, the price of the jobs initially promised by Mercedes seemed high; and the ultimate cost was increased by the intense competition among the bidding states. Yet from another perspective, the incentives offered by Alabama can be viewed as “table stakes” for the new global game of economic development.