September Issue of the Newsletter

The September 2007 issue of the Newsletter is available here (pdf). A short overview of the content of this issue:

Overview of the Pisa conference and the SGOC panels

Abstracts of the papers presented in Pisa

Pictures from the Pisa meetings

New Executive of the SGOC

Overview of the Turin Young Researcher Workshop on crime and counter crime policies in the Balkans

Conferences to attend

Books to read

Please do not forget to send us articles, announcements, book reviews and other materials that we can include in the newsletter and share with all SGOC members...

Israel:Police arrest ten members of alleged crime organization

Investigators from the International Crimes Investigation Unit carried out an extensive operation on Sunday morning targeted at Rico Shirazi's alleged crime organization.

Mob Wars Hit New Heights in Israel

When an explosion goes off on a busy Israeli street these days, it seems as likely to be a mob hit as a Palestinian attack. Rival underworld gangs are waging bloody battles for control of gambling and protection rackets, targeting each other with bullets, bombs and anti-tank missiles.

Turkey: Gang found to be linked to retired army officers

Nineteen members of the Patriotic Forces Union of Power Movement Association (VKGB), taken into custody on Monday after an extensive operation by the Anti-Organized Crime and Smuggling Department of the Ankara Police, have been referred to court after their interrogation at the police station on Tuesday.

Political Corruption in Poland

Please have a look at this paper http://www.forschungsstelle-osteuropa.de/con/images/stories/pdf/ap/fsoAP65.pdf
and tell us something more about this issue in Eastern European Countries

Political Corruption: an Introduction to the Issues

Please find an interesting paper on the following link http://www.cmi.no/publications/1999/wp/wp1999-7.pdf

Emails expose sordid tale of political corruption

To understand the nature of the Abramoff scandal that rocked Washington in 2006, it is especially helpful to look at the email files that US Senate Indian Affairs Committee have put on the Internet. These emails reveal a sordid, day-by-day account in Abramoff's own words documenting how he maneuvered government officials and others in Washington to transfer millions of dollars in fraudulent fees from his clients into the coffers of the political establishment in Washington.

Auditors attack EU spending again

From 2006: European Union auditors have drawn attention to irregularities in EU spending for the 12th year running, in their report on the 2005 budget. The auditors declared the accounts reliable overall, but criticised the spending of funds on the ground, particularly aid for poorer regions.

Firms accused of bribing Saddam to be investigated by fraud office·

The Guardian February 14, 2007

The Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into allegations that a number of major UK-based firms paid bribes to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The firms being targeted include the drug giants GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly. The international oil traders and UK bridge-builders Mabey and Johnson are also to be investigated.
They are on a long list of international companies accused in a UN report of paying kickbacks under the discredited oil-for-food sanctions regime, which enabled Saddam to illicitly amass an estimated $1.8bn. Ministers have agreed to fund the investigation with £22m over three years.

Papers and Articles on State Failure

Beck et al. 2001Beck, Nathaniel; Epstein, David; Jackman, Simon; O'Halloran, Sharyn (2001): Alternative Models of Dynamics in Binary Time-Series-Cross-Section Models: The example of state failure. Paper presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Society for Political Methodology, Emory University, 18-22 July 2001.

Hesselbein; Golloba-Mutebi; Putzel 2006Hesselbein, Gabi; Golooba-Mutebi, Frederick; Putzel, James (2006): Economic and Political Foundations of State-Making in Africa: Understanding state reconstruction. London: Crisis States Working Paper No. 3, Series No. 2.

Korteweg; Ehrhardt 2006Korteweg, Rem; Ehrhardt, David (2006): Terrorist Black Holes: A study into terrorist sanctuaries and governmental weakness. Den Haag: Clingendael Centre for Strategic Studies

World Bank Independent Evaluation Group 2006World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (2006): Engaging with Fragile States: An IEG review of World Bank support to low-income countries under stress. Washington D.C.: The World Bank Group.