Illicit cross-border flows, such as the smuggling of drugs, migrants, weapons, toxic waste, and dirty money, are proliferating on a global scale. This underexplored, clandestine side of globalization has emerged as an increasingly important source of conflict and cooperation among nation-states, state agents, nonstate actors, and international organizations. Contrary to scholars and policymakers who claim a general erosion of state power in the face of globalization, this pathbreaking volume of original essays explores the selective nature of the stateOs retreat, persistence, and reassertion in relation to the illicit global economy. It fills a gap in the international political economy literature and offers a new and powerful lens through which to examine core issues of concern to international relations scholars: the changing nature of states and markets, the impact of globalization across place and issue areas, and the sources of cooperation and conflict.

Contributions by: Peter Andreas, Jennifer Clapp, H Richard Friman, Eric Helleiner, Louise Shelley, William O. Walker III