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Course Description | Syllabus | Independent Research and Internships

Course Description

Course: EXP 91F Global Crime, Corruption and Accountability Lecturer: Sherman Teichman T/Th, 4-6:00 pm, Tisch Library Media Center Official corruption: the misuse of public power for private profit or political gain. It represents a universal threat to democracy and development, a hazard to free trade and investment, and, in collusion with international crime, a danger to global and individual security, public health and safety. No policy issue affects citizens more. Pervasive bribery, extortion, kickbacks, and collusion retard economies, kleptocratic predator elites promote political instability; unconventional dangers, risks from illicit traffic in drugs, biological, chemical, and nuclear materials; international organized crime; narcotrafficking; alien smuggling; and transnational bribery are all aided at critical junctures by official corruption. From the quagmire of U.S. campaign finance to the prebendalism of Nigeria; from Tokyo's banking scandals to Indonesia's Suharto miracle, from the drug lords of Mexico to the warlords of the Republic of Srpska, from the global crime networks of the Russian Mafiya to the Japanese Yakuza ...what threats are posed? In an era of cybercrime, encryption, and offshore banking, what could be effective levers of an anticorruption strategy? How effective is emerging international law and new initiatives of the Financial Action Task Force of the G-7? Transparency International? Modern or modernizing, transitional or static, all societies are affected. All analyses involve institutional and cultural contention whose norms set the criteria? When is corruption functional? Beyond moralistic or fatalistic approaches, how can we investigate and contend with corruption? As a core aspect of this course, EPIIC will continue to address the corrosive dilemmas of state crimes, crimes of obedience and the legacies of ousted repressive regimes. As we consider how societies attempt to reveal and redress past abuses, from Russia's Memoria to South African or Guatemalan truth and reconciliation commissions; from tribunals on genocide to lustration, what are the imperatives, the limitations of accountability?

Syllabus

September 8
Orientation

September 10
Introduction to Global Crime, Corruption, and Accountability

Readings:

  • "Tackling International Corruption: No Longer Taboo," John Brademas and Fritz Heimann, Foreign Affairs, September/October 1998
  • Corruption and the Global Economy, ed. Kimberly Ann Elliott, pp. 7-31
  • Political Corruption, eds. Arnold J. Heidenheimer et al., chapters 1, 2, 5
  • Inquiry Reader
    • "The Erosion of the State," Susan Strange, Current History, November 1997
    • "The Corruption Eruption," Moises Naim, The Brown Journal of World Affairs, Summer 1995
    • "Controlling the Global Corruption Epidemic," Robert S. Leiken, Foreign Policy, Winter 1996-97
    • "Global Corruption, Crime and the Drug Trade," James A. Glynn, Charles F. Hohm, and Elbert W. Stewart, Global Social Problems, HarperCollins, 1996
    • "The World of Dirty Money," Nigel Adam, The WorldPaper, January 1992
    • "Testimony of Jack A. Blum, Esq. on Money Laundering and Mexico," House Banking and Financial Services Committee, General Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee
    • "BCCI: The Bank that Abedi Built," Mushahid Hussain, The WorldPaper, June 1991

September 15
High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Iran-Contra Affair

Bill Moyers Documentary: The Secret Government

Reading:

  • "Iran-Contra's Untold Story," Robert Parry and Peter Kornbluh, Foreign Policy, Fall 1988

September 17
Defining and Combatting Corruption

Guest Lecturer: Ronald MacLean-Abaroa
Co-Founder, Transparency International; Former Mayor, La Paz, Bolivia; Co-Author, Corrupt Cities (forthcoming)

Readings: 

  • Corruption and the Global Economy, ed. Kimberly Ann Elliott, pp. 31-61, 119-132, 147-163
  • Transparency International Documents and Sourcebook
  • "Practical Approaches to Defeating Municipal Malfeasance," Ronald MacLean-Abaroa and Robert Klitgaard, from the forthcoming Corrupt Cities
  • Inquiry Reader
    • "Combatting Corruption Around the World," Peter Eigen, Journal of Democracy, January 1996
    • "International Cooperation Against Corruption," Robert Klitgaard, Finance & Development, March 1998
    • "The End of Secrecy," Ann Florini, Foreign Policy, Summer 1998

September 18-20
The EPIIC Weekend Immersion at Hurricane Island Outward BoundDilemmas of Accountability
I. The Human Genome
II. Corruption in Mexico

Guest Lecturers:
Juan Enriquez Cabot
Former Chief Executive Officer, Urban Development Corporation, Mexico City; Former Chief of Staff and Coordinator General of Economic Policy, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Former Negotiator, Peace Commission in Chiapas; Co-Founder and Director, Democracia y Desarrollo, Mexico City; Fellow, Center for International Affairs, Harvard University; Senior Researcher, Harvard Business School (author of 16 case studies); Director of a new genomics firm (founded by Dr. J. Craig Venter, president of the Institute for Genomic Research) dedicated to animal, plan and virus issues.

Ronald MacLean-Abaroa
[See September 17]

Readings:
Genome

  • Selections from The Gene Genie, Philip Kitcher, manuscript
  • "J. Craig Venter-DNA Is His Paydirt," NYTimes Magazine, August 23, 1998
  • "Science's Compass: Genomics and the World's Economy," Juan Enriquez, Science Magazine, Vol 281, August 14, 1998
  • "Thwarting Terror: A Special Report: Germ Defense Plan in Peril As Its Flaws Are Revealed," William Broad & Judith Miller, NYTimes, August 7, 1998
  • "The Economic Impact of Genomics:Countdown to 2000," American Association for the Advancement of Science's Genome Seminar, Feb. 15, 1998, Juan Enriquez (or Harvard Business School Case Study on Genomics)
  • "Remaking Eden, Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World," NYTimes Book Review
  • "The Copy Shop: Wrestling With Ethics On Biotechnology's New Frontier," Paul Raeburn, January 11, 1998

Mexico

  • Twilight On The Line: Underworlds and Politics at the U.S. - Mexico Border, Sebastian Rotella, chapters, 4-6 , pp. 130-256
  • Challenging The State: Crisis and Innovation in Latin America and Africa, Merilee Grindle, selected pages
  • "The Debate On Banks Gets Nasty In Mexico," NYTimes, Sam Dillon, August 7, 1998
  • "Dealing With Mexico," Boston Globe, November 9, 1997
  • "Mexico's Cycle of Failure," NYTimes, March 11, 1997
  • "Why Mexico's Massacre Was No Surprise," December 27, 1997
  • All the Mexican citations in Cops Across Borders: The Internationalization Of Us Criminal Law Enforcement, Ethan Nadelmann
  • "Death Of An Agent," John McPhee, The New Yorker, January 29, 1996
  • Bordering On Chaos: Guerillas, Stockbrokers. Politicians & Mexico's Road to Prosperity, Andres Oppenheimer, pp. 61-62, chapters 5-11, & Chapters 13-16
  • Corruption And Politics In Contemporary Mexico, Stephen Morris, pp. 1-82, 115-142

September 22
Controlling Corruption

Video Conference with Robert Klitgaard
Dean of the RAND Graduate School; Author, Controlling Corruption

Readings:

  • Controlling Corruption, Robert Klitgaard

September 24
Controlling Corruption II

Guest Lecturer: David Dapice
Tufts University, Department of Economics, Senior Fellow, Researcher, Harvard Institute for International Development

Readings:

  • Controlling Corruption, Robert Klitgaard

October 1:
Hour Exam

October 6
Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, part I

Reading:

  • Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, R.T. Naylor

October 8
Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, part II

Frontline Documentary: "Hot Money"

Reading:

  • Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, R.T. Naylor

October 13
Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, part III

Phone Hook-Up with Tom Naylor
Author, Hot Money and the Politics of Debt; Professor of Economics, McGill University

Reading:

  • Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, R.T. Naylor

October 15
MacroEconomics & World Financial Instruments

Guest Lecturer: David Dapice
[See September 24]

Reading:

  • Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, R.T. Naylor

October 20
Privatization, Oligarchy and Corruption in Russia: Catalyst for the Elite

Guest Lecturer: Virginie Coulloudon
Senior Fellow, The Davis Center for Russian Studies, Harvard University; Director, Research Project on The Elite & Patronage in Russia

Readings:

  • "Privatization in Russia: Catalyst for the Elite," The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Summer/Fall 1998
  • "Elite Groups in Russia," Democratizatsiya, Summer 1998
  • "Post-Soviet Organized Crime and the Soviet Successor States," International Annals of Criminology, 1995
  • "The Price Tag of Russia's Organized Crime," Transition, February 1997
  • "Privatization and Crime: The Post-Soviet Experience," Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, December 1995

October 22
Transnational Crime and the International Financial System
Guest Lecturer: Louise Shelley
Department of Sociology, Director, Center for the Study of Transnational Organized Crime and Corruption, American University; Author, Policing Soviet Society; Editor, Trends In Organized Crime and Democratizia

Readings:

  • Russian Organized Crime: Global Organized Crime Project, CSIS Task Force Report, 1997
  • "Stealing the Russian State," Democratizatsiya, Fall 1997
  • "Eradicating Crime Groups: Proliferation of Cartels around the World Threatens to Overwhelm Government," Foreign Service Journal, September 1997
  • "Criminal Kaleidoscope: The Diversification and Adaptation of Criminal Activities in the Soviet Successor States," Louise Shelley, European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 1996
  • Inquiry Reader
    • "Internal Security and the Rule of Law in Russia," Amy Knight, Current History, October 1996

Evening Lecture: "Transnational Organized Crime: A Comparative Analysis of Italian, Japanese, and Russian Organized Crime Operations," Eaton 206, 7:30pm

October 27
Practitioner -in-Residence
Criminal Enterprises as Business Enterprises:
Narcotics Cartels and Transnational Organized Crime

Practitioner: Sidney Zabludoff
Recognized expert on illicit financial flows; Former Deputy Chief, Counternarcotics Operations, CIA; Special Assistant to the Director, U.S. Treasury Department, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN); Principal Economic Expert, class action suit against Swiss Banks; Author, Movements of Nazi Gold: Uncovering the Trail

Readings:

  • "Colombian Narcotics Organizations as Business Enterprises," Sidney Zabludoff, Transnational Organized Crime, Summer 1997
  • "Cocaine Trafficking," (Part II), The Andean Cocaine Industry, Patrick Clawson and Rensselaer Lee, 1998

October 28
Evening Lecture:"Nazi Gold and the Swiss Banks: The Loss of European Jewish Assets and the Holocaust," by Sidney Zabludoff

Readings:

  • "How To Think about the Swiss," The New York Review of Books, June 11, 1998
  • Movements of Nazi Gold: Uncovering the Trail, Sidney Zabludoff, World Jewish Congress, 1998
  • The Swiss, the Gold and the Dead: How Swiss Bankers Helped To Finance the Nazi WarMachine, Jean Ziegler, pp. 131-279

October 29
Countering Money Laundering and Tracking Hidden Assets: Following the Money Trail

Practitioner: Sidney Zabludoff

Readings:

  • "Tracking the Money Flow," Douglas Keh, Foreign Service Journal, September 1997

Evening Lecture: "Drugs, Guns, Insurgency & Illicit Money Flows: Organized Transnational Crime," Pearson 106, 7:30PM

November 3
Frontline Documentaries: "Nazi Gold" and "Chasing the Marcoses Millions"

November 5
The Story Behind the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI)

NBC Special Report: "BCCI"

Reading:

  • False Profits: The Inside Story of BCCI, The World's Most Corrupt Financial Empire, Peter Truell and Larry Gurwin, chapters 1, 2, 6, 7, 8

November 10
Practitioner-in-Residence

Investigating Corruption in the Modern Era:
Collapsing Governments and Exposing Multinationals

Practitioner: Jack Blum
Former U.S. Senate Investigator, he exposed the BCCI scandal, Noriega's drug trafficking, and Lockheed Aircraft's overseas bribes, among other corrupt practices

Readings:

  • The New War: The Web of Crime that Threatens America's Security, John Kerry

Inquiry/Evening Lecture: "The World Financial System at the Precipice: From Russia to the Cayman Islands," Barnum 008, 7:00pm

November 11
Evening Lecture: "Making the Economy Scream: Unresolved Cold War Legacies of Corrupt Foreign Policy -- The Congo, Chile, Indonesia, Iran, Russia...," by Jack Blum

November 12
"Capital Punishment": From Campaign Finance Fiascos to Pentagonism

Practitioner: Jack Blum

Readings:

  • "Mafia, Myths, and Markets: On the Theory and Practice of Enterprise Crime," R.T. Naylor
  • "Transnational Crime: The Interface between Legal and Illegal Actors," Nikos Passas
  • "The Capitalist Threat," George Soros, The Atlantic Monthly, February 1997
  • "How To Stop the Global Crash," John Cassidy, The New Yorker

November 17
In-Class Mid-Term Exam

November 19
Strategies for Controlling Corruption

Guest Lecturer: Merilee Grindle
Edward S. Mason Professor of International Development, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Author, Challenging the State: Crisis and Innovation in Latin America and Africa

Readings:

  • Challenging the State: A Decade of Crisis and States of Change, Merilee Grindle (excerpt)

November 24
Frontline Documentary: "So You Want To Buy A President?"

December 1
War Crimes: The Former Yugoslavia

Frontline Documentary: "The Most Wanted Man in the World: Radovan Karadicz"

Readings:

  • War Crimes: Brutality, Genocide, Terror, and the Struggle for Justice, Aryeh Neier
  • World Paper articles
    • "Seeking out Official Sins," Benjamin Pogrund
    • "Keeping the Books Closed," Silviu Brucan
    • "Democracies Unearth Political Crimes," Priscilla Hayner
    • "We Want To Bury Our Dead," Perico Rodriguez
    • "The Disappeared Cry in the Shadows," Andrew Graham-Yooll
    • "Morality Play with a Cast of One," Robert Block
    • "Halting Political Torture and Killing," Ervin Staub

December 3
War Crimes

Readings:

  • War Crimes: Brutality, Genocide, Terror, and the Struggle for Justice, Aryeh Neier
  • "Chile Under Military Rule, 1973-1989," Lois Hecht Oppenheim
  • "The Pinochet Case: Bringing the General to Justice," The Economist
  • "Confronting Human Rights Violations Committed by Former Governments: Principles Applicable and Political Constraints," Jose Zalaquett
  • Inquiry Reader
    • "Assessing the Work of the United Nations War Crime Tribunals," Justice Richard Goldstone, Stanford Law Journal
    • "International Judicial Intervention," David Scheffer, Foreign Policy
    • "Overcoming the Legacies of Dictatorship," Tina Rosenberg, Foreign Affairs

December 8
State Crimes and Reconciliation: South Africa

Guest Lecturer: Julie Leimbach
A'99, EPIIC '97; Julie spent 1997-98 in South Africa interning with organizations working on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; she's using her research to write a senior thesis in international relations

Readings:

  • Reconciliation through Truth: A Reckoning of Apartheid Criminal Governance, Kader Asmal, etc.
  • The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness, Wole Soyinka (an excerpt)
  • "Guilt is on the Move with All Her Mantles," Kroc

December 22
In-Class Final Exam

December 23
Take-Home Final/Research Paper Due

Independent Research and Internships

Kristen Cibelli and Tamy Guberek

Kristen Cibelli and Tamy Guberek travelled to the Hague in Brussels over spring break to conduct research on the relationship between the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and human rights groups. At the Tribunal, they witnessed three trials and met with several people, including Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour. They have continued their research since and are now focusing on the role of international justice in the post-conflict societies of the former Yugoslavia. They presented some of their research at a panel held after the Symposium, entitled "War Crimes and Accountability: From Nuremberg to the International Criminal Court", and they plan to travel to Bosnia-Herzegovina in August of this year.

Shorena Shaverdashvili, Sean Love (EPIIC '95), Jo Choi and Sam Barzilay

 

 

 

Shorena Shaverdashvili, Hyun Jung "Jo" Choi, and Sam Barzilay traveled over winter break to Azerbaijan, where they were hosted by former EPIIC student Sean Love (EPIIC '95), now the country director for Internews Azerbaijan. Shorena and Jo were investigating the corruption involved in the exploitation and development of Caspian oil, while Sam focused on preparing a photographic presentation on the environmental and social impact of Caspian development. All three presented their work at the Symposium, as part of the panel entitled "Corporate Crime and Corruption: The Caspian and Beyond."