Smuggling Armageddon looks at one of the most troubling international concerns of the 1990s and beyond: the illegal trade in nuclear materials that has erupted in the Newly-Independent States (NIS) and Europe since the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Rensselaer Lee raises the seldom-asked question of whether such traffic poses a threat of consequence to international security and stability while showing readers a Russia beset with a variety of criminal proliferation channels, increasingly sophisticated smuggling operations, and nuclear stockpiles with breached security. Smuggling Armageddon is sure to provoke controversy and raise the specter of nuclear destruction once again.

The Oxford Handbook of Nuclear Security provides a comprehensive examination of efforts to secure sensitive nuclear assets and mitigate the risk of nuclear terrorism and other non-state actor threats. It aims to provide the reader with a holistic understanding of nuclear security through exploring its legal, political, and technical dimensions at the international, national, and organizational levels. Recognizing there is no one-size-fits-all approach to nuclear security, the book explores fundamental elements and concepts in practice through a number of case studies which showcase how and why national and organizational approaches have diverged. Although focused on critiquing past and current activities, unexplored yet crucial aspects of nuclear security are also considered, and how gaps in international efforts might be filled. Contributors to the handbook are drawn from a variety of different disciplinary backgrounds and experiences, to provide a wide range of perspectives on nuclear security issues and move beyond the Western narratives that have tended to dominate the debate.These include scholars from both developed and developing nuclear countries, as well as practitioners working in the field of nuclear security in an effort to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

"Ungoverned spaces" are often cited as key threats to national and international security and are increasingly targeted by the international community for external interventions—both armed and otherwise. This book examines exactly when and how these spaces contribute to global insecurity, and it incorporates the many spaces where state authority is contested—from tribal, sectarian, or clan-based governance in such places as Pakistani Waziristan, to areas ruled by persistent insurgencies, such as Colombia, to nonphysical spaces, such as the internet and global finance. Within this multiplicity of contexts, the book addresses a range of security concerns, including weapons of mass destruction, migrants, dirty money, cyberdata, terrorists, drug lords, warlords, insurgents, radical Islamist groups, and human privacy and security. Ultimately, Ungoverned Spaces demonstrates that state-centric approaches to these concerns are unlikely to supplant the many sites of authority that provide governance in a world of softened sovereignty.

The most destructive force in the Americas today is not El NiÑo-it is the criminal enterprises that recognize no geographic, legal or moral boundaries. This book exposes the main characteristics and effects of criminal enterprises in the Americas and considers realistic strategies for combating them. Looking at how crime penetrates private business, government, and the everyday lives of the people, this collection examines the impact of criminal enterprises on the legitimate economy and the ability of states to promote the rule of law. It compares criminal enterprises in the Americas with other regions, and considers the foreign policy concerns of the US. With a recent upsurge in the scope, sophistication and cooperation among groups, this book is essential tool for understanding one of the greatest challenges to security, peace and democracy in the Americas.

A detailed survey of a growing scourge of the global economy—the smuggling of people, materials, and money. Smuggling used to be a family business. Today it is big business. Illicit Trafficking: A Reference Handbook offers a thorough introduction to the problems of illegal trafficking that have emerged from and been intensified by globalization. This title provides an examination of how criminal enterprises have exploited opportunities to enrich themselves and broadened their involvement in many areas of illegal trafficking while compromising or evading legal authorities. The coverage includes a brief history of illicit trafficking, analyzes current problems, and examines local and global containment policies such as Presidential Decision Directive 42. It also explores key international agreements on money laundering, bank secrecy laws, extradition treaties, and technologies that have exploited legitimate business opportunities to enrich their profits while compromising or evading legal authorities.

This fascinating work is a two-volume guide to the shadow world, the critical issues, and the global reach of organized crime. Despite its impact on international security and the world economy, organized crime is an unusual topic for a reference book. Difficult to research, the high-profit, high-risk subculture of drug lords, diamond smugglers, and sex slavers is rarely investigated by scholars. Organized Crime: An International Encyclopedia ventures behind the scenes into this hazardous territory. In the first volume, expert contributors offer a global perspective on issues such as weapons and arms trafficking, high-tech and cyber crimes, the future of organized crime, and the connection between organized crime and armed conflicts. The second volume consists entirely of primary documents, national and international laws, and treaties that reflect the international community's many attempts—largely ineffective—to combat organized crime. Together the two volumes provide students and general readers with a road map to a shadow world with far-reaching impact on the world we know.

This book constitutes the first major study showing (1) when transnational organized crime is likely to use corruption and violence tactics, (2) when transnational criminal activities most affect individual and state security, and (3) when the negative consequences of these tactics and activities can be most successfully combated.