Capitalism is the main reason for the growth in global crime.’ Evaluate this view
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A level and AS level
2023
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Outline for Evaluating the Role of Capitalism in Global Crime
This essay will evaluate the claim that capitalism is the primary reason for the growth of global crime. It will explore the arguments for and against this view, considering various factors contributing to the phenomenon.
Arguments for Capitalism's Role in Global Crime
Capitalist Networks and Organized Crime:
Discuss how global capitalism facilitates criminal networks through the creation of international commercial networks. Provide examples of how these networks are used for illicit activities like drug trafficking, money laundering, and arms dealing.
Capitalist Values and Moral Decay:
Examine the argument that the spread of capitalist values, emphasizing competition and material success, can encourage individuals and businesses to engage in unethical and illegal practices. Discuss how this can lead to an increase in corporate crime and other forms of global crime.
Neo-liberalism and Economic Disparity:
Explore Wallerstein's theory of how global capitalism has exacerbated economic disparities between nations, creating fertile ground for criminal networks in poorer countries. Discuss how these networks can be exploited by organized crime groups in wealthier nations.
Transnational Corporations and Exploitation:
Provide examples of how multinational corporations have been involved in illegal activities in developing countries, violating labor laws, environmental regulations, and contributing to human rights abuses. Relate these actions to the pursuit of profit under capitalist principles.
Deregulation and Financial Crime:
Analyze how the deregulation of the global financial system, intended to facilitate international trade, has created opportunities for various financial crimes, including tax evasion, insider trading, and fraud.
Arguments Against Capitalism as the Sole Cause of Global Crime
Limited Scope of Capitalist Explanation:
Acknowledge that while capitalism may play a significant role in economic crimes like drug trafficking, it fails to fully explain the rise of other globally significant crimes like sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Discuss how these crimes are often driven by factors independent of capitalist economic structures.
Challenging the Neo-liberal Impact:
Present counter-arguments to the claim that global capitalism has weakened developing economies. Discuss cases where globalization and international trade have actually strengthened economies and institutions in poorer countries, disputing the direct link between capitalism and crime.
Other Contributing Factors:
Highlight other significant factors contributing to global crime, independent of capitalism. Discuss the roles of wars, regional conflicts, poverty, and weak or corrupt governments in generating criminal activities.
Importance of Governance and Enforcement:
Argue that while capitalism may facilitate global crime, it is the lack of effective governance, inadequate law enforcement, and the failure to address corporate wrongdoing that significantly exacerbate the problem. Discuss how a lack of accountability for transnational corporations operating in developing countries contributes to the spread of crime.
Conclusion
Conclude by providing a balanced evaluation of the argument. Acknowledge the significant role of capitalism in facilitating global crime while recognizing that it is not the sole cause. Discuss the need for a holistic understanding of the factors contributing to global crime, including political, social, and economic considerations, and the importance of comprehensive solutions that address the root causes of the problem.
Capitalism and Global Crime: An Evaluation
The assertion that capitalism is the main driver behind the surge in global crime warrants a nuanced examination. While the intricate networks of global capitalism undeniably provide fertile ground for transnational criminal activities, attributing sole responsibility to capitalism risks overlooking a confluence of other potent factors.
The Case for Capitalism as a Catalyst for Global Crime
Proponents of this view, often drawing upon sociological perspectives, highlight the undeniable parallels between the structures of global capitalism and the operations of transnational criminal networks. Manuel Castells, a prominent scholar of the information age, posits that globalization, fueled by capitalist expansion, has engendered intricate physical, digital, and financial networks that transcend national boundaries. (Castells, M. 1998. End of Millennium. Oxford: Blackwell) These very networks, designed to expedite the flow of goods, capital, and information, are deftly exploited by criminal organizations for illicit activities such as drug trafficking, human smuggling, and money laundering.
Example: The global drug trade, estimated to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually, exemplifies this interconnectedness. Drug cartels exploit the same financial systems, transportation networks, and market mechanisms that underpin legitimate international commerce. The ease with which illicit profits can be laundered through offshore havens and integrated into the global financial system underscores the symbiotic, albeit perverse, relationship between capitalism and organized crime.
Furthermore, critics argue that the relentless pursuit of profit maximization, a hallmark of capitalist ideology, can foster an environment where ethical considerations are sidelined. This moral erosion, they contend, creates a fertile breeding ground for criminal behaviour, as individuals and corporations prioritize self-interest over societal well-being.
Example: The environmental crimes perpetrated by certain transnational corporations, particularly in developing countries with lax environmental regulations, illustrate this point. Driven by the imperative to minimize costs and maximize profits, some companies engage in environmentally destructive practices, often with devastating consequences for local communities and ecosystems.
Countering the Capitalism Hypothesis: Exploring Alternative Explanations
However, attributing the growth of global crime solely to capitalism presents an incomplete picture. A multitude of other factors, often intertwined and mutually reinforcing, contribute significantly to this complex phenomenon.
Firstly, the assertion that global capitalism has universally weakened developing economies, thereby fueling crime, is debatable. In many instances, integration into the global economy has fostered economic growth and development, albeit unevenly distributed.
Secondly, while the capitalist pursuit of profit may incentivize certain types of crime, it struggles to explain crimes that are not primarily motivated by financial gain.
Example: The rise of sex tourism, facilitated by globalization and increased international travel, cannot be solely attributed to capitalism. Deep-rooted social issues, including gender inequality and poverty, create an environment where vulnerable individuals, often women and children, are susceptible to exploitation.
Thirdly, geopolitical instability, armed conflicts, and weak governance structures play a pivotal role in exacerbating global crime. These factors create power vacuums and ungoverned spaces where criminal organizations can flourish.
Example: The illicit arms trade, fueled by regional conflicts and the proliferation of weapons, exemplifies this dynamic. Warlords and armed groups, often operating with impunity, rely on global criminal networks to procure weapons, finance their operations, and launder profits.
Conclusion: A Multifaceted Challenge Demanding Nuanced Solutions
In conclusion, while capitalism undoubtedly contributes to the complexities of global crime by providing the infrastructure and, in some cases, the incentives for transnational criminal activity, it is an oversimplification to identify it as the sole or primary cause. A confluence of factors, including poverty, inequality, conflict, and weak governance, are equally, if not more, significant.
Effectively addressing global crime necessitates a multi-pronged approach that tackles not only the symptoms but also the root causes. This includes strengthening international cooperation, promoting sustainable and equitable development, addressing social inequalities, and bolstering the rule of law globally.
Free Mark Scheme Extracts
Capitalism is the main reason for the growth in global crime. Evaluate this view.
Key focus of the question Global crime, sometimes known as transnational crime or ‘crimes without frontiers’, can be understood as crime that takes place across the borders of one or more countries. Studies suggest that the scale of global crime has increased significantly in recent years. This question invites candidates to consider the reasons for the rise in global crime and, in particular, to reflect on possible links with the spread of capitalism worldwide.
Candidates are likely to discuss sociological arguments that see the global criminal economy as mirroring the global capitalist economy. Castells, for example, argues that globalisation resulted in the development of physical, digital and financial networks that cut across national borders and which led to knowledge as well as goods and people moving quickly, easily and cheaply across the world. While this facilitated the development of global capitalism, it also created opportunities for the development of global criminal networks. Examples of global crime may be used in good answers to illustrate possible links with the spread of global capitalism. Connections between drug dealing (through money laundering) and the global financial system might be explored, for instance. Similarly, so-called ‘green crimes’ committed by some transnational corporations who flout environmental protection laws in poorer countries would provide a further example of links between global capitalism and global crime.
While global capitalism may be a significant contributor to the increase in global crime, other factors are also involved. A strong evaluative response to the question will consider some of these other factors, including the impact of wars and regional conflicts, poverty, and weakness and corruption in some governments.
Indicative content For:
- Global crime is often organised along business lines and is facilitated by access to international commercial networks associated with the spread of global capitalism.
- The spread of capitalist values globally may have encouraged more people and businesses around the world to adopt immoral, selfish and illegal practices to compete with one another in order to make money and to achieve material success.
- Wallerstein believes that global capitalism has damaged the economy of poor countries, making the latter fertile ground for the development of criminal networks who may be recruited by established criminal groups in wealthier countries to, for example, supply drugs or people trafficking.
- Transnational Corporations have often been found to break laws in low-income countries, especially those relating to the health and safety of their workers and to environmental protection.
- Deregulation of the world’s financial system, which in part was designed to facilitate growth in international trade and commerce, has facilitated a range of financial crimes, from tax evasion and insider trading to defrauding transnational organisations such as the EU out of grant and subsidy money.
Against:
- Marxist accounts that link the growth of global crime to the spread of global capitalism are most convincing in relation to crimes that are committed for financial gain, such as dealing in illicit drugs or people trafficking. Other types of global crime have also increased significantly and here the links to capitalism are more tenuous. For example, international tourism has led to an increase in sexual crimes with some poorer countries being viewed as a safe haven for sexual predators who visit as tourists and exploit women and children in the local sex industry.
- The claim that global capitalism and the spread of neoliberal values around the world has weakened the economy of poorer countries (and thereby encourage a local increase in crime) has been disputed. In many cases, the economy and institutions of poorer countries may have been strengthened through increasing international trade and exposure to globalisation.
- While global capitalism may have contributed to the increase in global crime, it is not the only significant factor. Wars and regional conflicts have been responsible for a huge increase in migration, thereby creating a market in people trafficking. War and poverty have also led some farmers in the developing world to abandon conventional crops and grow plants to produce illicit drugs. Warlords also use global criminal networks to generate funds to buy armaments and pay their soldiers.
- Although global capitalism may facilitate global crime, the extent of the problem is greatly exacerbated by the weakness of the legal and political systems in many poorer countries and by the failure of governments in developed countries to clamp down on the corporate crimes committed by transnational organisations in less developed countries.