International Criminology and International Connectivity: Reflections at a Pivotal Juncture

This article considers the prospects of international criminology against the broad and multifaceted backdrop of flux in societies and economies across the world. Taking as its starting point the contingency of disciplinary trajectories, the article considers four challenges that look set to determine the character of international criminology over the coming decade. First, obstacles relating to the production, availability, and interpretation of pertinent data across jurisdictions. Second, contrary pressures towards, on the one hand, broader criminalisation of phenomena deemed to be social harms, and on the other hand, towards the decriminalisation and cross-sectoral management of such phenomena by agents and institutions beyond the ‘law and order’ arena. Third, challenges to academic freedoms. And fourth, growing resistance to international institutions, law and ‘elites’.