Combating Transnational Crime: The Role of Learning and Norm Diffusion in the Current Rule of Law Wave

Abstract

This chapter examines the globalization of legal responses to transnational crime during the broader rule-of-law wave of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It asks how market liberalization and political democratization created pressure for stronger rule-of-law institutions while also opening new opportunities for illicit cross-border activity. Focusing on learning and norm diffusion, the chapter analyzes why states adopt legal commitments against transnational crime and how international and transnational governance shape domestic rule-of-law reforms.