Hidden Narratives of Transnational Organised Crime in West Africa

这个项目询问西非是否存在跨国和有组织的犯罪，并调查犯罪和控制之间的界线两边的人们对犯罪的理解。该项目假设犯罪和国家行为者谈论和理解他们的角色的方式，即他们的“叙述”，为更好地理解参与和寻求打击犯罪活动的日常现实提供了一个有用的切入点。该项目建立在调查人员的观察基础上，即我们对西非跨国有组织犯罪（TNOC）的大部分理解是基于官方报告、统计数据和其他有关这一现象的独立评估。通过毒品走私和人口走私的案例，该项目试图揭示西非TNOC的“隐藏故事”，以便更好地了解围绕TNOC的做法。该项目在这方面提出了三个主要的研究问题：(1)西非是否存在TNOC这样的东西？(2)围绕它的当地叙事和理解是什么？最后，(3)在这个区域背景下，我们的概念工具对理解TNOC有多大用处？这是一个特别及时的项目，因为案例研究城市阿加德兹（尼日尔）和拉各斯（尼日利亚）是快速发展的人流经过的地点：在阿加德兹，成千上万的非正规移民在前往利比亚和欧洲的途中过境，而在拉各斯，包括阿片类药物在内的新旧形式的毒品贩运既满足当地消费，也满足北美和欧洲的市场。该项目将侧重于媒体对TNOC的报道，但辅以国家行为者（如政策制定者、执法官员）以及我们所谓的“市场内部人士”（如走私者、贩运者）的非官方或非正式叙述。这些数据将通过关注这些参与者如何理解他们的工作，他们与犯罪/控制鸿沟的另一方的关系，以及他们工作的合法性和道德来分析。该项目还试图将这些微观层面的叙述联系起来，得出有关西非TNOC更广泛治理的结论，并探索如何根据未发现的叙述重新思考TNOC，以帮助西非及其他地区了解和改进相关政策。

This project asks whether crime of a transnational and organised form exists in West Africa, and investigates the understandings of it held by people on both sides of the line between crime and control. The project assumes that the ways criminal and state actors speak about and understand their roles, i.e. their 'narratives', provides a helpful entry point into a better understanding of the everyday reality of participating in and seeking to counter criminal activities. The project is built on the investigators' observation that much of our understanding of transnational organised crime (TNOC) in West Africa is based on official reports, statistics and other largely detached assessments about this phenomenon. Using the cases of drug trafficking and people smuggling, the project seeks to uncover the 'hidden narratives' of TNOC in West Africa in order to better understand the practices around TNOC. The project asks three overarching research questions in this regard: (1) Is there such as thing as TNOC in West Africa? (2) What are the local narratives and understandings around it? And finally, (3) how useful are our conceptual tools for understanding TNOC in this regional context? This is a particularly timely project given that the case study cities of Agadez (Niger) and Lagos (Nigeria) are sites through which rapidly evolving flows are passing: in Agadez, thousands of irregular migrants transit on their way to Libya and Europe, while in Lagos new and old forms of drug trafficking including opioids satisfy local consumption but also markets in North America and Europe. This project will focus on media reporting about TNOC but supplement these with unofficial or informal narratives from state actors (e.g. policymakers, law enforcement officials), as well as what we call 'market insiders' (e.g. smugglers, traffickers). This data will be analysed by focusing on common threads about how these actors understand their work, their relation to the other side of the crime/control divide, and the legality and ethics of their work. The project also seeks to connect these micro-level narratives to draw conclusions about the broader governance of TNOC in West Africa and explore how a rethinking of TNOC in the light of the uncovered narratives can help to inform and improve related policies in West Africa and beyond.