The Nodal Structure of International Police Cooperation: An Exploration of Transnational Security Networks

Abstract

Abstract Facing sophisticated, resistant, and highly motivated terrorist and trans-national crime threats and numerous difficulties inherent in countermeasures, law enforcement and security providers have shifted from a bureaucratic and hierarchical approach toward a networking morphology. This trend more adequately equalizes the capacities of law enforcement authorities to combat fluid and flexible criminal networks. This article highlights new cooperation mechanisms that are being added to the existing instruments available to law enforcement agencies. The emphasis is on the role of informal initiatives by members of the law enforcement community. Based on the generally accepted assumption that state-driven initiatives generally constrain the level of contributions that formal international agreements can provide, we suggest that the staff of international organizations alter the environment in which law enforcement agencies must collaborate. This will enable the organizations to act as informal entrepr...