Crimes of the Powerful: Environmental Crime and Non-State Actors in International Trade

This article discusses the relationship between law enforcement and environmental crime, and the role of non-state actors in reducing crimes and harms in international trade. It explores the impact of capitalism on the creation of laws that favor the economy over the environment, and the perception of environmental harm as an organized crime. The article also highlights the key roles of non-commercial and non-state actors in regulating trading activities and reducing crimes and harms in the international arena.

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CRIMES OF THE POWERFUL
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Question One
Environmental crime or harm is related to the law and law enforcement in a variety of
ways. A key relationship between the law and law enforcement and environmental crime is that
it is considered a product of capitalism. Under such a relationship, there exists capital
accumulation, class accumulation, and the commodification. The implication of the relationship
on law enforcement is that it will result in the creation of laws which favor the economy over the
environment (Tombs, 2017 p.3). The other relationship existing between the law enforcement
and environmental harm is on the consideration that the environmental harm is taken into
account as an organized crime and this is according to the brokerage perception. Some of the
organized crimes against the environment include toxic waste dumping, poaching of the
endangered species which is considered as wildlife trafficking.
According to Short (2015 p.86), the effect of such a relationship on law enforcement will
be a creation of laws which aims at reducing such criminal activities. The other example of an
organized crime is the illegal logging which entails cutting down trees without permission
resulting in environmental degradation. The environmental crime is also related to the law and
law enforcement such that the environmental harm is considered a crime against nature and this
is based on the ecosystem perception of the relationship. The implication of the above mentioned
relationship on law and law enforcement is that there will be the establishment of laws which
limits the ecology centrally and not peripherally (Haines, 2014 p.30).
Question Two
The non-commercial and non-state actors play various roles towards the reduction of
some of the most powerful crimes and harms beyond the national boundaries. The key examples

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of the non-commercial and non-state actors in the international trade include government. Some
of the fundamental roles entail, the creation of rules and laws which is used in the regulation of
the trading activities in the international market (Picciotto and Mayne, 2016 p.100). Such a move
is referred to as formalization. The other key role of the international activism is based on the
development of free trade agreement among various countries to allow for commercial activities
in the international arena. When there is free trade such that there is free movement of goods,
services, and even labor, there will be a reduction in the rates of crime and harm and this is
because crimes such as monopoly by one particular state will be controlled. There will more than
one particular state supplying a particular product in the market.
The non-commercial and non-actors also plays a key role in reducing crimes and harms
in the international trade by putting more emphasis on the specific harms. They, therefore, ensure
that there are desirable jobs in the market by enhancing the conditions of working in a particular
job compared to the previous job working conditions in the place. Also, under the circumstance
in which there still exist harsh conditions for different jobs, certain improvements are made by
international activism (White, 2017 p.30). Additionally, the international activism often
organizes both local and international protests against the crimes and harms with the aim of
ensuring that their voices on the particular concern are heard so that the matter can be tackled by
the individuals concerned. When such protests are organized, the crimes and harms are typically
reduced and that only happens when appropriate actions are taken against those who are engaged
in the crimes and harms in the international trade. The non-commercial and non-actors in the
international trade also encourages individualism approach. Such an approach aims at ensuring
that everyone involved in the trade is at a position of pursuing their goals which could be to

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make profit. The individualism will typically result in a stronger society as a whole and this will
aid in the reduction of crimes and harms.
According to Hafner-Burton, Victor and LeVeck (2016 p.175), another role of the
international activism in the reduction of the crimes and harms entails organizing of the local and
international campaigns whose aim are to find ways through which the crime can be eliminated.
The campaigns allow for interactions of various individuals and this, therefore, helps in the
creation of the identity of some of the crimes and harms including the people involved in
promoting such malicious acts in the international trade. The various responses to the crimes and
harms in the international trade by the international activism are also vital and this is because it
will first deny the funding of the various persons who could be involved in crimes and harms.
Another through which the non-actors and non-commercial state reduce crimes and harms entail
the promotion of tripartism where every particular individual is encouraged to act in a manner
which displays that he or she is a social partner. Such a corporation often results in the creation
of economic policy whose aim is to curb a variety of crimes and harms existing in the
international market for different products and services.
The key strength of the actors is based on how they agitate for certain laws to be made so
as to regulate trading activities in the international arena with the aim of reducing crimes and
harms. Another strength is on the protests aimed at lowering crimes and harms. The crimes are
often organized and this typically results in certain improvements being made in the fight against
criminal acts in the international trade (Soprano, 2018 p.4). The weaknesses of actors are that
some of them may be opposed to certain rules and laws which could be made and this, therefore,
implies that at times they are disunited. It is therefore often difficult to reduce crimes and harms
under the condition of disunity.

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One of the fundamental elements which have a great potential as a strategy in the control
of the crimes and harms by the actors is on the competition law. The above mentioned law is
aimed at reducing various actions by the small business which are considered illegal and hence
the international market is made open for the small business to enter. The creation of criminal
law is considered a great potential strategy which can be used by the actors in reducing crimes
and harms (Elliott, 2016 p.87). The other element which forms one of the potential strategy is the
environmental law. The environmental law could be used by the actors to preserve and provide
protection to the environment with the aim of conserving the land and also control of pollution.
The concept above has often been used to reduce certain crimes and harms to the environment
such as illegal logging.

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References
Elliott, L., 2016. The securitisation of transnational environmental crime and the militarisation of
conservation. Handbook of Transnational Environmental Crime, pp.68-87.
Hafner-Burton, E.M., Victor, D.G. and LeVeck, B.L., 2016. How activists perceive the utility of
international law. The Journal of Politics, 78(1), pp.167-180.
Haines, F., 2014. Corporate fraud as misplaced confidence? Exploring ambiguity in the accuracy
of accounts and the materiality of money. Theoretical Criminology, 18(1), pp.20-37.
Picciotto, S. and Mayne, R. eds., 2016. Regulating international business: beyond liberalization.
Springer.
Short, S., 2015. Wealth through Stealth: Evening the Odds, or Flirting with Disaster?. In Fairy
Tale and Film (pp. 71-91). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Soprano, R., 2018. WTO Trade Remedies in International Law: Their Role and Place in a
Fragmented International Legal System. Routledge.
Tombs, S., 2017. Corporate crime. The Wiley
‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, pp.1-3.
White, R., 2017. Transnational environmental crime. Routledge.