4 – 6 July 2022, Sant'Anna School in Pisa and online

"Crossing territorial and disciplinary (b)orders: empirical, analytical and policy perspectives on organised crime"

Deadline for Panel and Paper proposals: 28th February 2022

The Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, the Scuola Normale Superiore and the University of Pisa in collaboration with the ECPR Standing Group on Organised Crime (SGOC) invite you to its 4th General Conference, taking place from 4 – 6 July 2022, in Pisa and online.

The Conference follows on from previous editions held in Naples (2015), Bath (2017), and Sofia (2019). In light of the logistical, security and budgetary challenges resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the next edition will be held as a hybrid event – partly in person in Pisa, and partly online.

With a view to stimulating both scholarly debate and policy developments, the Conference offers a unique platform to collectively dissect, diagnose and discuss the characteristics, resources, strategies and modus operandi adopted by traditional and emerging criminal organisations operating both at the local and global levels, as well as the evolution of the responses at multiple levels and by different actors (international organisations, law enforcement, communities, social movements, etc.).

How can you participate?

Panel and Paper proposals must be submitted online via the dedicated forms on the ECPR website (see side menu- propose paper/ propose panel) until 28 February 2022, midnight GMT.

You will need a My ECPR profile to submit your proposal. If you don’t already have one, it takes just a few clicks to create. Read the full proposal full guidelines here.

Notifications of acceptance will be issued from 1 April 2022, with registration opening from 15 April.

Please note that no mixed/blended Panels will be permitted. You will be asked to indicate, when submitting your proposal, whether you wish to take part in person (in Pisa) or online.

Which are the main themes?  
We welcome Panel and Paper proposals that address the following topics:

  • Gangs, organised crime and mafia
  • Encounters and clashes or criminal organisations across the world
  • Criminalisation of mobility and mobile crime
  • Social movements and (the fight against) organised crime
  • Organised crime and community relations: protection, power regulation, service provision
  • Extralegal governance and organised crime
  • Organised crime and dis/order in the global peripheries
  • Contentious politics and organised crime
  • Ethnographic approaches to organised crime
  • Gender perspectives on organised crime
  • Race perspectives on organised crime
  • Vulnerable groups and organised crime
  • Organised crime and authoritarian regimes
  • Organised crime and violent extremism
  • Organised crime in art, fiction, culture and public perceptions
  • Corruption, patronage and hybrid orders
  • Organised crime, prisons and detention societies
  • Organised crime and the internet: cybercrime and surveillance
  • Environmental crime
  • Organised crime and finance: threats (money laundering and tax havens) and responses (freezing, forfeiture and social reuse of criminal assets)
  • International and European cooperation in the fight against organised crime
  • Strategies of resilience to organised crime: from police to community-led responses

Who can participate?

We invite scholars, researchers, practitioners, civil society organisations and policy-makers from different backgrounds to share empirical insights, analytical framings and policy approaches contributing with fresh perspectives to the understanding of organised crime, with regard to the diversity of its contemporary manifestations.

The conference encourages the presentation of cutting-edge research from researchers at all stages of their careers, as well as from practitioners and policymakers.