BASS Social Anthropology and Philosophy / Course details

The fight against transnational organised crime is a priority of many states, governments and intergovernmental bodies. However the concept is still ill-defined and debated and often subject to clichéd, analytically weak discourse.

The course introduces students to some of the issues in conceptualising and responding to transnational organised crime by providing an analytical framework to understand its nature, social organisation and socio-economic impact as well as the challenges faced by law enforcers and policy makers in their counter activities/policies.

To this aim, the first part of the course is theory-led with a focus on contemporary definitions, concepts and key theories of organised crime and its transnational nature; while the second partis research-led analysing the nature and organisation of criminal activities such as human trafficking/smuggling, drug trafficking, counterfeiting. This part offers the opportunity to students to think and reason about how crimes are organised, how the actors involved cooperate and work together to accomplish their goals, how criminal behaviours of groups of illicit actors are shaped by wider social and economic conditions.

Indicative content: (1) Issues with the concept and definition of organised crime; (2) Theoretical approaches to organised crime; (3) Looking into mafia-type organisations and county lines; (4) Offenders and victims in organised crime; (5) Regulating and controlling organised crime; (6) Illicit counterfeit markets; (7) Human trafficking and smuggling; (8) Cocaine trafficking; (9) Organised crime and cyberspace; (10) Revisiting key themes and essay guidance. 
 

The course aims to (1) Offer students the opportunity to consider critically the concept of transnational organised crime and how it is utilised to define policy and interventions at the national and international level; (2) Engage students with contemporary debates and theories on transnational organised crime, its nature, social organisation, causes and control, (3) Provide students with an analytical framework to understand how crimes are organised over time and space, by whom, and under which conditions.

On successful completion of the course students will be able to (1) Understand the academic and policy debates concerning transnational organised crime, (2) Demonstrate a critical understanding of transnational organised crime and associated issues, (3) Demonstrate a critical understanding of inter/transnational state and non-state responses to organised crime. 

Teaching and learning across course units consists of: (1) preparatory work to be completed prior to teaching sessions, including readings, pre-recorded subject material and online activities; (2) a weekly whole-class lecture; (3) a weekly workshop; and (4) one-to-one support via subject specific office hours.

• Understand the academic and policy debates concerning transnational organised crime; 
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of transnational organised crime and associated issues; 
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of (inter/trans-national) state and non-state responses to organised crime; 

• Develop a coherent argument in relation to the main areas of study;
• Independence of thought and the ability to critically appraise the quality of one's own reasoning; 
   

• Effective use of literature and the use of appropriate referencing/bibliography in essays; 
• Clear and accurate use of language with appropriate grammar/punctuation/ spelling; 
   

A number of personal and transferable skills will be developed including independent learning skills, time management skills, and critical analytical skills. 

Students will be required to work co-operatively in order to maximise their learning.

This unit is summatively assessed by a 3000-word essay worth 100% of the overall mark. 

Formative feedback (both individual and collective) will be given on (1) on tasks and contribution in class, (2) developing essay plans. Detailed formative feedback will be given on the submitted essay plan via Blackboard (Grademark). 

Paoli, L. (2014) (ed), The Oxford Handbook of Organized Crime, Oxford: Oxford University Press;

Newburn, T. (2017) Criminology, 3rd Ed. Abingdon: Routledge pp. 431-462 (Chapter 20 on Organised Crime);

Across their course units each semester, full-time students are expected to devote a '.working week' of around 30-35 hours to study. Accordingly each course unit demands around 10-11 hours of study per week consisting of (i) 3 timetabled teacher-led hours, (ii) 7-8 independent study hours devoted to preparation, required and further reading, and note taking.

This course is available to final year students only. Restricted to: BA (Criminology), BA Social Sciences (BASS) and LLB (Law with Criminology) students. This course is also available to incoming study abroad students university wide.

Pre-requisites: It is desirable for students to have taken 20 credits of any level 1 Criminology module

Timetable:
Please refer to your personalised Criminology timetable