Guest Speaker:
Professor Simon Mackenzie
Head of School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University of Wellington
Event Date: Tuesday 5th November 2024
Event Time: 5:30 pm-7:00 pm
Event Location:
Russell McVeagh
Level 24, Dimension Data House, 157 Lambton Quay, Wellington, 6011.
(Please note no building access after 6pm)
EVENT REGISTRATION IS ESSENTIAL AND BY INVITATION ONLY
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Organized crime is a significant driver of conflict nationally and globally. It preys on weak governance, slack law enforcement, and inadequate regulation. It tears at the fabric of societies by empowering and enriching the authoritarian regimes, their armed actors, government, and business elites and fuelling violent conflict. For example, in Asia, criminal groups prop up corrupt and dangerous regimes from Myanmar to North Korea, posing a direct threat to regional stability.
Perhaps the most pernicious aspects of this spreading regional—and increasingly global—criminal phenomenon are the extent and character of the networks supporting it. They operate in both licit and illicit business spheres, gaining access to regional government and business elites through apparently legitimate connections and creating lucrative incentives for local elites to associate with and provide material support to their criminal activity, which is often hidden by a veneer of apparent legitimacy, such as casinos, resorts, hotels, and special economic zones (SEZs).
The dispersal of these networks into the region is strongly correlated with the areas of weakest governance and the most profound state-embedded criminality. The melding of these groups with corrupt local elites has generated a malign ecosystem that is rapidly evolving into the most powerful criminal network of the modern era. The best way of destabilizing and disrupting this complex and entrenched criminal network in and around the globe is a dedicated and coordinated international effort.
Speaker
Professor Simon Mackenzie, Head of School of Social and Cultural Studies, Victoria University of Wellington
Simon joined the Institute of Criminology in 2016 after nearly ten years at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Glasgow, and prior to that the Criminology Department at Keele University. He has held research grants and contracts from various funders including the European Commission, UK research councils (ESRC and AHRC), government justice departments, police, and the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC supported the Trafficking Culture research programme (see www.traffickingculture.org) and is currently funding the Trafficking Transformations project (2020-2025) which follows global illegal markets in collectible goods like antiquities, fossils and wildlife. Simon’s most recent book is Transnational Criminology (2020), which develops a practical and theoretical understanding of global criminal trade, including trafficking in drugs, humans, arms, wildlife, diamonds, and antiquities.
Guest Speakers
Hon Peter Dunne CNZM, FIML
Peter is retired NZ politician who was a member of Parliament of Ohariu. He held the seat and its predecessors from 1984-2017- representing Labour Party in Parliament from 1984-1994, and a succession of minor centrist parties from 1994.
He was the Leader of Future New Zealand from 1994-1995, United New Zealand from 1996- 2000, and United Future from 2000-2017. He was a Minister in National- and Labour-led governments at various times between 1990 and 2017.
Joanne Ou, Representative of Taiwan to New Zealand
Joanne Ou is the Representative of Taiwan to New Zealand, Mission Head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New Zealand, based in Wellington. Prior to her appointment, she was the Spokesperson of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director-General of its Public Diplomacy Council from 2019 to 2023. In her nearly 30 years with Taiwan’s foreign service, she has held various positions including Director of the UN Task Force in TECO-New York, and the Ministry’s North American Affairs Department. Joanne holds a MA in Political Science from Columbia University in New York, USA, and BA in Political Science from National Taiwan University. Joanne is fluent in English, Spanish and Mandarin, with working level of French, and has a diverse range of hobbies that include Argentine tango, skiing, and horseback riding.
Emeritus Professor Roberto Rabel, Professional Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies, Victoria University of Wellington
Emeritus Professor Roberto Rabel is a Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies Victoria University of Wellington (VUW). From 2006 to 2016, he was Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) at VUW. Since retiring from that role, he has taught intermittently in International Relations at VUW and at the University of Warsaw in Poland. Professor Rabel holds a BA Honours degree in History and International Politics from VUW and a PhD in History from Duke University, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar. From 1986 to 2006, Professor Rabel held teaching and management roles at the University of Otago. He has authored or edited over 50 books and articles, including an official history, New Zealand and the Vietnam War: Politics and Diplomacy (2005). He is a Life Member and former National Vice-President of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs (2009-2021).
