Economic crime and neoliberal modes of government: The example of the mediterranean
Abstract
Everyone has heard about the problem of rubbish in Naples and Campania since, in December 2008, Silvio Berlusconi declared a state of emergency in the region, and handed the problem over to the army. As is well known, the Camorra organizes the traffic of toxic wastes on open-air sites, organizes their transportation from the whole of Italy or, indeed, Europe, and manages the quarries and the dumping operations, while household waste in the region simply remains untreated. But can we be satisfied with this version of the story, which depicts a wicked Mafia and a powerless state? Certainly not. For the 2008 crisis was merely one episode in a much more complicated “vicious circle,” which began in 1994 (at the latest) with the first declaration of a state of emergency in the region, and the setting up of a commission dedicated to the question (...).