Crime today is synonymous with security but our preoccupation with exposing the hidden mechanisms of the global underworld engenders an incomplete understanding of a vexed and complex field of inquiry, policy and practice. International and global relations are being refashioned and re-coded in ways that demand a fresh and expansive interpretation that acknowledges the scope and complexity of networked human interactions.
Using the innovative concept of unlawfulness, this book examines the crimes and misdemeanours of the global overworld to form a unique analysis of global order in the twenty-first century. Battersby argues that unlawfulness - the intentional transgression of criminal law - is an active but under-researched principle in international affairs, and maps out the scope of tolerated unlawfulness among and within states and non-state actors including private companies and not-for-profit 'civil society' organizations. Exploring the dynamics of law-making in a world where the pace of technological change is outstripping our capacity to capture new forms of international and transnational crime, this book will be a valuable resource to scholars of International Politics, Global Governance, International Law, Security, Criminal Justice and Policing.