Transnational governance and cybercrime control: dilemmas, developments and emerging research agendas

Two areas of criminological literature, addressing respectively globalization and cybercrimes, often converge upon the assumption that global integration via electronic communication networks has transformed the contours of criminal activity, unleashing a flow of crime problems that transcends borders and overwhelms attempts to establish control. Such assessment is nowadays commonplace in both criminological discourse and in wider popular and political consciousness. This chapter takes stock of the current contours of global cybercrime and seeks to critically assess (and perhaps challenge) the claim that the processes underpinning it either go unchallenged or are irreversible. In a turbulent period where reactions against globalization are gaining political and popular traction, it is necessary to consider how reassertions of national sovereignty on the economic, political and legal planes might impact upon global flows of illegal and illicit communication, and in turn may reshape efforts to criminalize and control a range of online practices.