CONTRA: Schar School Announces New Center Focusing on Transnational Crime, Corruption, and the Networks That Sustain Them

The Schar School of Policy and Governmentat George Mason University announces the launch of the Corruption, Networks, and Transnational Crime Research Center-CONTRA-a research hub dedicated to advancing the study of one of today's most urgent global challenges-transnational crime.

Building on the Schar School's longstanding strengths, CONTRA brings together the faculty's broad, interdisciplinary, and highly regarded expertise to investigate the complex dynamics of transnational crime and its far-reaching impacts on global order.

CONTRA's cutting-edge scholarship underscores the Schar School's role as a leader in the study of transnational crime. Led by codirectors Professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, Professor and Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Endowed Chair Naoru Koizumi, and Distinguished University Professor Janine Wedel, the center draws on each of their landmark contributions to their fields:

• Wedel's seminal analyses of corruption and informal power networks reveal how elites operate across blurred public-private boundaries, reshaping governance and accountability worldwide.
• Koizumi's highly innovative quantitative methods and network modeling approaches illuminate illicit organ trafficking and other hidden economies, offering powerful and practical tools to understand and disrupt criminal markets.
• Correa-Cabrera's research on migration, borderlands, networks, and criminal organizations has significantly advanced understanding of the intersections between human smuggling, organized crime, and state power.

Together, their pathbreaking scholarship pushes the boundaries of how transnational crime can be understood and studied, combining deep empirical insights with sophisticated and diverse methodological approaches.

The team leads a seasoned staff of researchers and academics who are well-regarded in their respective fields and bring their knowledge and expertise to George Mason classrooms.

"CONTRA presents a great opportunity to nurture cutting-edge scholarship on topics of crucial import to the future of democracy and security," said Wedel, a pioneer of applying anthropological insights to corruption.

"This is such a great opportunity to contribute to the study of different forms of transnational crime nd illicit networks from an interdisciplinary perspective and using complex methodologies in the areas of data analysis and machine learning," said Correa-Cabrera, an internationally recognized expert on immigration and border security. "Working with Janine and Naoru, this will be possible."

For her part, Koizumi is looking forward to "learning from each other, collaborating with more faculty, and furthering this important area of international security research."

CONTRA builds on the storied legacy of the Schar School's Terrorism, Transnational Crime, and Corruption Center (TraCCC) founded by Louise I. Shelley, now Distinguished University Professor Emerita, as the first academic center in the United States devoted to exploring the links among terrorism, transnational crime, and corruption. TraCCC's trailblazing work in research, policy engagement, and training provides the strong foundation on which CONTRA now stands.

The center will launch its public programming with "From Cartels to Combatants: The Intense Militarization of America's Drug War" on Monday, March 23, from 1 to 6 p.m. at FUSE 1311 at Mason Square. The conference will examine the impacts of the designation of transnational criminal organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and assess the legal, diplomatic, operational, and strategic consequences of that shift.

The event is free and open to the public; registration is required. For questions, contact [email protected].