The Geography of Trafficking and Human Smuggling

Trafficking and human smuggling are subjects which have the capacity to excite attention and polarize opinion. There is a very real ambivalence as to whether those involved are illegal economic migrants, or victims of human rights abuse. As these issues have risen on the political agenda, the enormous complexities inherent in them have become more apparent. The rhetoric, however, has run ahead of the research, and there is a fundamental lack of hard evidence relating to most aspects of the problem. This book addresses this problem by providing systematic and thorough information. The authors present an analysis which demonstrates the need to combine the spatial approach with those of other disciplines, including economics, criminology, political science, anthropology and sociology.