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Abstract
Networks and networking are viewed as ways of dealing with complex problems
that beset both the state and society. Homelessness, healthcare and crime are all viewed
as problems that networks can manage better than single organizations. This paper views
the problems as networks that must be confronted if Western democracies wish to deal
with terrorism, drug smuggling and the manifold pathologies that confront failed states.
The perspective that this paper adopts is networks as problems.
The majority of the literature on networks and collaboration is quite positive.
Collaborative networks are seen as appropriate devices to tackle public management
problems and to successfully coordinate political, social, and economic action. From the
level of global governance, European integration, sectoral policy networks at the national
level and service implementation networks at the local level these devices are all viewed
as ways of solving governance problems in a complex and differentiated world. The
research proposed here intends to develop a more holistic view of this phenomenon by
looking at “dark networks”. The paper will try to evaluate how network structures and
governance are used for criminal or immoral ends. Because the judgment of ends is
inherently normative, we propose to talk about overt and legal versus covert and illegal
networks. We will then analyze where the similarities and differences are and what we
might be able to learn for both forms if we mirror them against each other. The paper will
develop a set of propositions drawn from selected cases of drug trafficking networks, the
diamond and weapons trade as well as the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
Convention