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Corporate War Crimes

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The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and War

Abstract

This chapter suggests that contemporary wars require the de-civilization of those who invade and those who are invaded. Today, international affairs are conducted by small enclaves of decision-makers formed of lobbyists, business people, politicians, pundits, and individuals who are or have been all of this simultaneously. War, which is the most prominent of such affairs, turns therefore into a form of state and corporate criminality, as it is planned in elite spaces hidden from public scrutiny. The asymmetry between perpetrator and victim in terms of power and resources, which characterizes state and corporate crime, is also a distinctive trait of international conflict. This chapter analyses ‘war as crime’, focusing on the illegality perpetrated by invading states and the criminality of the private enterprises these states involve in their military ventures.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Social and Criminological Research, Middlesex University, London, UK

    Vincenzo Ruggiero

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  1. Vincenzo Ruggiero
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool, UK, LIVERPOOL, United Kingdom

    Ross McGarry

  2. Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Liverpool, UK, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Sandra Walklate

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Ruggiero, V. (2016). Corporate War Crimes. In: McGarry, R., Walklate, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Criminology and War. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43170-7_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-43170-7_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-43169-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-43170-7

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