A quantitative application of enterprise and social embeddedness theories to the transnational trafficking of cocaine in Europe

Aziani, Alberto, Berlusconi, Giulia and Giommoni, Luca ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3127-654X 2021. A quantitative application of enterprise and social embeddedness theories to the transnational trafficking of cocaine in Europe. Deviant Behavior 42 (2) 10.1080/01639625.2019.1666606

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Abstract

Illegal enterprise and social embeddedness theories have highlighted the importance of market forces and social factors, respectively, for analyzing organized crime and organized criminal activities. This paper empirically demonstrates the joint explanatory power of these respective theories in the case of the transnational trafficking of cocaine. It does so by conceptualizing transnational cocaine trafficking as a network of relationships among countries; a network whose structure reflects the actions of manifold organized criminal groups. The analysis utilizes exponential random graph models to analyze quantitative data on cocaine trafficking which are ordinarily difficult to capture in empirical research. The analysis presented focuses on a set of 36 European countries. The results yield insights into the nature of the relationship among economic incentives, social ties, geographic features and corruption, and how, in turn, this relationship influences the structure of the transnational cocaine network and the modi operandi of cocaine traffickers.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
ISSN:	0163-9625
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	28 August 2019
Date of Acceptance:	27 August 2019
Last Modified:	06 Dec 2024 01:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/125142

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