The academic study of diamonds is as multi-faceted as the precious stones themselves. Mineralogists and geographers have written about them, as have historians and economists and students of art and fashion. They each shine their light on a different aspect of this source of luminous radiance. But who would venture to describe the entire complicated worldwide system starting in the diamond mines and ending with the consumers of Western metropolises? In The Mazzel Ritual: Culture, Customs and Crime in the Diamond Trade, Russian-Israeli cultural anthropologist and criminologist Dina Siegel follows the route of a diamond from the mines of Africa to the shops of Europe and the United States, as it passes through countless hands and places and is smuggled, stolen, cut, polished, sold, exchanged and, finally, worn as jewelry. In the course of this long and exciting journey, a wide range of people face all sorts of risks and criminality, as well as various moral and ethical judgments. Siegel describes the range of ethnic groups that are active in the diamond trade and the culture and customs that are specific to this business. She analyses the dangers and threats to the industry and aims to uncover the strategies and tactics to deal with them. Finally, this story of risk, trust and crime examines the vulnerability of diamond production and distribution to illicit and criminal activities. This book is about the diamond business itself as well as about those involved in it. It tells the story of people who simply cannot stay away from this expensive and alluring commodity.

This pioneering study looks across key trafficking crimes to develop a social theory of transnational criminal markets. These include human trafficking, drug dealing, and black markets in wildlife, diamonds, guns and antiquities, The author offers an in-depth analysis of structural similarities and differences within illicit trade networks, and explores the economic underpinnings which drive global trafficking. Revealing how traffickers think of their illegal enterprises as ‘just business’, he draws broader lessons for the ways forward in understanding criminality in this emerging field.

This book analyzes the phenomenon of xenophobia across African countries. With its roots in colonialism, which coercively created modern states through border delineation and the artificial merging and dividing of communities, xenophobia continues to be a barrier to post-colonial sustainable peace and security and socio-economic and political development in Africa. This volume critically assesses how xenophobia has impacted the three elements of political economy: state, economy and society. Beginning with historical and theoretical analysis to put xenophobia in context, the book moves on to country-specific case studies discussing the nature of xenophobia in Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Ghana and Zimbabwe. The chapters furthermore explore both violent and non-violent manifestations of xenophobia, and analyze how state responses to xenophobia affects African states, economies, and societies, especially in those cases where xenophobia has widespread institutional support. Providing a theoretical understanding of xenophobia and proffering sustainable solutions to the proliferation of xenophobia in the continent, this book is of use to researchers and students interested in political science, African politics, peace studies, security, and development economics, as well as policy-makers working to eradicate xenophobia in Africa.

'Graycar and Smith's excellent edited volume studies corruption as a pervasive, global phenomenon. The chapters move from general overviews to in-depth studies of corruption-prone sectors such as forestry, financial markets, public procurement, and trade in diamonds and art. The volume is an important, contribution to the international study of corruption that mixes scholarly analysis with practical recommendations for the control and prevention of corruption – both international initiatives and country – or sector-specific policies.' – Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale Law School, US 'Corruption is on top of the agendas of practitioners and scholars in public administration all over the world. This volume addresses questions no one can neglect and comes up with answers we should not miss.' – Leo Huberts, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands 'This Handbook will serve as an invaluable resource for scholars, students and public officials interested in understanding corruption and its control.' – James B. Jacobs, NYU School of Law, US Corruption is a global phenomenon with costs estimated to be in the trillions of dollars. This source of original research and policy analysis deals with the most important concepts and empirical evidence in foreign corrupt practices globally. Handbook of Global Research and Practice in Corruption includes research from all continents and provides a critical analysis of the key issues of corruption and its control. Through rigorous analysis and theoretical foundations, this book provides a multi-disciplinary and international account of corruption from the perspectives of public policy, criminal law and criminology, as well as considering principles of prevention and control in both the public and private sectors. With original and empirical analyses, this unique book will appeal to academics, researchers and students in international business and international law, staff of crime and corruption commissions and police integrity agencies, as well as international organisations such as the World Bank, IMF, Transparency International and the World Economic Forum.

This book brings together research and studies in the fields of organised crime and of ‘green criminality’ against the natural environment. By bringing the research traditions of organised crime and ‘green criminology’ into closer proximity and combining contributions on traditional organised crime and ecological crime in one volume, it questions the need to draw artificial dividing lines between criminological sub-disciplines. Including chapters on the illegal trade in cobalt, in stolen motor vehicles, the illegal dog market, cross- border amber trafficking, deforestation and environmental harm in the Norwegian industrial salmon farming, the book offers an important rapprochement between studies in organised crime and green criminology, and considers the operational differences between underworld and upperworld criminal economies.

Following diamonds from African mines to the necklines of high society women, this international history shows why Jews were central to the transatlantic gem trade and its growth into a global industry. During the late nineteenth century, tens of thousands of diggers, prospectors, merchants, and dealers extracted and shipped over 50 million carats of diamonds from South Africa to London. The primary supplier to the world, South Africa's diamond fields became one of the formative sites of modern capitalist production. At each stage of the diamond's route through the British empire and beyond-from Cape Town to London, from Amsterdam to New York City-carbon gems were primarily mined, processed, appraised, and sold by Jews. In A Brilliant Commodity, historian Saskia Coenen Snyder traces how once-peripheral Jewish populations became the central architects of a new, global exchange of diamonds that connected African sites of supply, European manufacturing centers, American retailers, and western consumers. Centuries of restrictions had limited Jews to trade and finance, businesses that often heavily relied on internal networks. Jews were well-positioned to become key players in the earliest stage of the diamond trade and its growth into a global industry, a development fueled by technological advancements, a dramatic rise in the demand of luxury goods, and an abundance of rough stones. Relying on mercantile and familial ties across continents, Jews created a highly successful commodity chain that included buyers, brokers, cutters, factory owners, financiers, and retailers. Working within a diasporic ethnic community that bridged city and countryside, metropole and colony, Jews helped build a flourishing diamond industry, notably Hatton Garden in London and the Diamond District of New York City, and a place for themselves in the modern world.

Diamonds have long been bloody. A new history shows how Germany’s ruthless African empire brought diamond rings to retail display cases in America—at the cost of African lives. Since the late 1990s, activists have campaigned to remove “conflict diamonds” from jewelry shops and department stores. But if the problem of conflict diamonds—gems extracted from war zones—has only recently generated attention, it is not a new one. Nor are conflict diamonds an exception in an otherwise honest industry. The modern diamond business, Steven Press shows, owes its origins to imperial wars and has never escaped its legacy of exploitation. In Blood and Diamonds, Press traces the interaction of the mass-market diamond and German colonial domination in Africa. Starting in the 1880s, Germans hunted for diamonds in Southwest Africa. In the decades that followed, Germans waged brutal wars to control the territory, culminating in the genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples and the unearthing of vast mineral riches. Press follows the trail of the diamonds from the sands of the Namib Desert to government ministries and corporate boardrooms in Berlin and London and on to the retail counters of New York and Chicago. As Africans working in terrifying conditions extracted unprecedented supplies of diamonds, European cartels maintained the illusion that the stones were scarce, propelling the nascent U.S. market for diamond engagement rings. Convinced by advertisers that diamonds were both valuable and romantically significant, American purchasers unwittingly funded German imperial ambitions into the era of the World Wars. Amid today’s global frenzy of mass consumption, Press’s history offers an unsettling reminder that cheap luxury often depends on an alliance between corporate power and state violence.

This timely book presents a carefully curated selection of essays to celebrate the career of Nigel South, Emeritus Professor at the Department of Sociology and Criminology of the University of Essex, and one of the leading figures in his field. Through his long career, still ongoing and flourishing, Nigel has contributed knowledge in many areas of criminological scholarship and challenged the confines of the discipline, opening up new directions for thinking and debate. In this volume, Nigel’s close colleagues and friends celebrate his exceptional career through essays that draw on, or have been inspired by, his earlier or most recent work. Spanning across the areas of policing, drugs, green, southern, and sensory criminology, these essays offer cutting-edge research and fresh conceptual insights honouring the work of an outstanding criminologist, colleague, friend, and human being. This volume will be of pivotal interest to students, scholars, and academics in the fields of sociology and criminology, as well as those with an interest in these areas more generally.

The Routledge Handbook of International Criminology brings together the latest thinking and findings from a diverse group of both senior and promising young scholars from around the globe. This collaborative project articulates a new way of thinking about criminology that extends existing perspectives in understanding crime and social control across borders, jurisdictions, and cultures, and facilitates the development of an overarching framework that is truly international. The book is divided into three parts, in which three distinct yet overlapping types of crime are analyzed: international crime, transnational crime, and national crime. Each of these perspectives is then articulated through a number of chapters which cover theory and methods, international and transnational crime analyses, and case studies of criminology and criminal justice in relevant nations. In addition, questions placed at the end of each chapter encourage greater reflection on the issues raised, and will encourage young scholars to move the field of inquiry forward. This handbook is an excellent reference tool for undergraduate and graduate students with particular interests in research methods, international criminology, and making comparisons across countries.

In this book the author examines the illegal wildlife trade from multiple perspectives: the historical context, the impact on the environment, the scope of the problem internationally, the sociocultural demand for illegal products, the legal efforts to combat it, and several case studies from inside the trade. The illegal wildlife trade has become a global criminal enterprise, following in the footsteps of drugs and weapons. Beyond the environmental impact, financial profits from the illegal wildlife trade often fund organized crime groups and violent gangs that threaten public safety and security in myriad ways. This innovative volume covers several key questions surrounding the wildlife trade: why is there a demand for illegal wildlife products, which actors are involved in the trade, how is the business organized, and what are the harmful consequences. The author performed ethnographic fieldwork in three key markets: Russia, Morocco, and China, and has constructed a detailed picture of how the wildlife trade operates in these areas. Conversations with informants directly involved in the illegal business ensure unique insights into this lively black market. In the course of his journey the author follows the route of the illegal wildlife trade from poor poaching areas to rich business districts where corrupt officials, legally registered companies, wildlife farms and sophisticated criminal organizations all have a share. A fascinating look inside the world of poachers, smugglers and traders.