Criminal Politics

The Wild East bridges political economy and anthropology to examine a variety of il/legal economic sectors and businesses such as red sanders, coal, fire, oil, sand, air spectrum, land, water, real estate, procurement and industrial labour. The 11 case studies, based across India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, explore how state regulative law is often ignored and/or selectively manipulated. The emerging collective narrative shows the workings of regulated criminal economic systems where criminal formations, politicians, police, judges and bureaucrats are deeply intertwined. By pioneering the field-study of the politicisation of economic crime, and disrupting the wider literature on South Asia’s informal economy, The Wild East aims to influence future research agendas through its case for the study of mafia-enterprises and their engagement with governance in South Asia and outside. Its empirical and theoretical contribution to debates about economic crimes in democratic regimes will be of critical value to researchers in Economics, Anthropology, Sociology, Comparative Politics, Political Science and International Relations, Criminologists and Development Studies, as well as to those inside and outside academia interested in current affairs and the relationship between crime, politics and mafia enterprises.

The first thorough study of the co-existence of crime and democratic processes in Indian politics In India, the world's largest democracy, the symbiotic relationship between crime and politics raises complex questions. For instance, how can free and fair democratic processes exist alongside rampant criminality? Why do political parties recruit candidates with reputations for wrongdoing? Why are one-third of state and national legislators elected--and often re-elected--in spite of criminal charges pending against them? In this eye-opening study, political scientist Milan Vaishnav mines a rich array of sources, including fieldwork on political campaigns and interviews with candidates, party workers, and voters, large surveys, and an original database on politicians' backgrounds to offer the first comprehensive study of an issue that has implications for the study of democracy both within and beyond India's borders.

In An introduction to political crime, Jeffrey Ian Ross provides the most comprehensive and contemporary analysis of political crime addressing both violent and nonviolent crimes committed by and against the state (e.g. political corruption, illegal domestic surveillance, and human rights violations) in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and other advanced industrialized democracies since the 1960s. Written by a respected social scientist, this book reviews appropriate theories of political crime and explains numerous definitional and conceptual issues, causes of political crimes, ways to control it, and effects of different types of political crime. Ross integrates new scholarship on state crime, and post 9/11 developments in both scholarship and current affairs and uses numerous examples to help readers understand the issues. The book is supported by a companion website, containing additional materials for both students and lecturers, which is available from the link above.

More than simply a study of the mafia, Alfredo Schulte-Bockholt's work argues that collaboration between political science and criminology is critical to understanding the real nature of organized crime and its power. Schulte-Bockholt looks at specific case studies from Asia, Latin America, and Europe as he develops a theoretical discussion - drawing on the thought of Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Antonio Gramsci - of the intimate connections between criminal groups and elite structures. Ranging from an historical discussion of the world drug economy to an examination of the evolution of organized crime in the former Soviet Union, the book extends into a consideration of the possible future development of organized crime in the age of advanced globalization.

This edited volume presents the work of academics from the Global South and explores, from local and regional settings, how the legal order and people’s perceptions of it translates into an understanding of what constitutes "criminal" behaviors or activities. This book aims to address the gap between criminal law in theory and practice in the Global South by assembling 11 chapters from established and emerging scholars from various underrepresented regions of the world. Drawing on research from Singapore, the Philippines, Peru, Indonesia, India, the Dominican Republic, Burma, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Argentina, this book explores a range of issues that straddle the line between social deviance and legal crimes in such societies, including extramarital affairs, gender-based violence, gambling, LGBT issues, and corruption. Issues of inclusivity versus exclusivity, modernity versus tradition, globalization of capital versus cultural revivalism are explored. The contributions critically analyze the role politics and institutions play in shaping these issues. There is an urgent need for empirical studies and new theoretical approaches that can capture the complexity of crime phenomena that occur in the Global South. This book will provide essential material to facilitate the development of new approaches more suitable to understanding the social phenomena related to crime in these societies. This book will make an important contribution in the development of Southern criminology. It will be of interest to students and researchers of criminology and sociology engaged in studies of sentencing and punishment, theories of crime, law and practice, and postcolonialism.

America’s criminal justice system reflects irrational fears stoked by politicians seeking to win election. Pointing to specific policies that are morally problematic and have failed to end the cycle of recidivism, Rachel Barkow argues that reform guided by evidence, not politics and emotions, will reduce crime and reverse mass incarceration.

Criminalization of politics is one of the major problems facing India. There has been an increase in the number of politicians with criminal backgrounds who have been elected as legislative representatives in the past few decades. This raises the question as to why Indians elect criminal politicians. The causes of crime in India are classified into social, economic, political, geographic, mental and psychological, and biological. Criminalization of politics in India takes many forms, and include electoral fraud, political candidates with criminal backgrounds contesting elections, use of muscle power in mobilizing voters, political scams, bureaucratic scams, and politicians protecting criminal gangs. Some of the causes of criminalization of politics in India include political control of the police, state money, corruption, weak laws and abuse of discretion, lack of intraparty democracy transparency, lack of ethics or values, vote bank politics, and loopholes in the functioning of the Election Commission. Ignorance due to illiteracy is prevalent as approximately 25% of the population are illiterate. Ethnic identity is the most important factor in Indian politics. Ethnic identity includes caste, religion, and language. Competition over local dominance among various social groups is one of the major factors that makes Indian voters elect politicians with a criminal history. Most of the media houses have their political affiliations, and they continue to indulge in perception mapping of public. Indian voters elect criminals due to the perceived benefits they would receive from them since the politicians would have huge discretionary powers over the implementation of policies that facilitate the distribution of benefits to the public. Indian voters also vote for politicians with a criminal record due to being coerced. Candidates with criminal links provide the electorate with a form of social insurance. The ability of candidates with criminal links to provide platforms that facilitate dispute resolutions is also one of the factors that make Indian voters choose politicians with criminal links. Having a weak rule of law in India is the major factor that has led to the thriving of the alternative forms of dispute resolution. The election of candidates with a criminal record has several impacts. It leads to an increase in the level of political control of the police. The criminal politicians can use the police to achieve their personal goals. The governance delivered by the criminal politicians may contradict the prevailing principles of good governance in a democratic system. For instance, they may engage in practices that favor certain groups within the society to the detriment of other groups. Politicians with a criminal background create negative economic impacts. These politicians can use their discretionary powers in the allocation of public resources to the state-controlled corporations to engage in corrupt activities that enrich them or their benefactors. Therefore, they may embezzle public resources or allocate the public resources to private parties for their refinement or development, which would have a negative impact on the welfare of the residents of the region. Criminal politicians can also treat public resources as their personal assets and use them to engage in various criminal activities. It would lead to the breakdown of the rule of law since the politicians would support criminal activities conducted by their cronies. This may lead to the proliferation of criminal organization, which would be a threat to peace and security and also lead to the loss of public faith in the credibility of the judiciary. The situation is alarming and needs to be controlled before it goes out of hand and threatens the future social economic development of the country. These are the major issues that are discussed in this book.

The United States imprisons far more people, total and per capita, and at a higher rate than any other country in the world. Among the more than 1.5 million Americans currently incarcerated, minorities and the poor are disproportionately represented. What’s more, they tend to come from just a few of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the country. While the political costs of this phenomenon remain poorly understood, it’s become increasingly clear that the effects of this mass incarceration are much more pervasive than previously thought, extending beyond those imprisoned to the neighbors, family, and friends left behind. For Trading Democracy for Justice, Traci Burch has drawn on data from neighborhoods with imprisonment rates up to fourteen times the national average to chart demographic features that include information about imprisonment, probation, and parole, as well as voter turnout and volunteerism. She presents powerful evidence that living in a high-imprisonment neighborhood significantly decreases political participation. Similarly, people living in these neighborhoods are less likely to engage with their communities through volunteer work. What results is the demobilization of entire neighborhoods and the creation of vast inequalities—even among those not directly affected by the criminal justice system. The first book to demonstrate the ways in which the institutional effects of imprisonment undermine already disadvantaged communities, Trading Democracy for Justice speaks to issues at the heart of democracy.