Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy

by Moises Naim (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.25

  Any newspaper anywhere in the world, any day, carries news about illegal migrants, drug busts, smuggled weapons, laundered money, or counterfeit goods The intense media coverage devoted to the war on terrorism has helped to obscure the other new wars of globalisation.Illicit international trade pits governments against agile, well-financed networks of highly dedicated individuals. Religious zeal or political goals drive terrorists, but profit is no less a motivator for murder, mayhem, and global insecurity than religious fanaticism. Illicit is the first book to reveal the full scale of this dark underground. It uncovers the connections between illegal industries and shows how they join forces to breed new lines of business, feed off political instability, foster violence and enable terrorism. How do pirated movies or CD's find their way to illegal markets worldwide even before they are released? And how, in our free, modern world, have over 30 million women and children - in South East Asia alone - been trafficked in the past ten years?

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $4.20

  Any newspaper anywhere in the world, any day, carries news about illegal migrants, drug busts, smuggled weapons, laundered money, or counterfeit goods. The global nature of this conflicts over these issues was unimaginable just over a decade ago, and yet the resources - financial, human, institutional, technological - deployed by the combatants have reached extraordinary levels of magnitude. So have the numbers of victims. These newly globalised wars pit governments against agile, well-financed networks of highly dedicated individuals. Religious zeal or political goals drive terrorists, but profit is no less a motivator for murder and mayhem. Illicit is the first book to reveal the full scale of this dark underground. It uncovers the inner workings of the networks of illegal industries and shows the new realities that make them so successful and difficult to defeat. How do pirated movies or CD's find their way to illegal markets worldwide even before they are released? Who manufactures the knock-off Rolex sold for $20? Why is marijuana ever easier to find in schools and universities? Who is behind the illegal immigrants found suffocated to death in the backs of lorries? Clear, provocative and lively, Illicit is a crucially timely book that reveals the dark underside of our globalised world.