Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict

Published by Cornell University Press 2011

Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts

The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict

Edited by: Peter Andreas and Kelly M. Greenhill

https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801458309

Overview
Contents

About this book

In this book, political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and policy analysts critically examine the murky origins of misleading or inaccurate statistics used in global policy and traces their remarkable proliferation.

Author / Editor information

Peter Andreas is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Brown University. His books include edition, and Blue Helmets and Black Markets: The Business of Survival in the Siege of Sarajevo, both from Cornell.

Kelly M. Greenhill is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Tufts University and Visiting Associate Profssor and Senior REsearch Scholar at MIT. She is coeditor of The Use of Force, 8th edition.

Reviews

Lynn Eden, Stanford University:

This is a terrific, innovative, and coherent volume that combines the insights of The Wire with outstanding recent scholarship. Puncturing many myths—sometimes uncomfortably so—chapters both systematic and vivid show the dangers of basing public policy on numbers that no one should count on, including exaggerating numbers of victims or, the opposite, deliberately downplaying gross state violations. The authors show how and why unreliable numbers persist, what it takes—politically and methodologically—to develop better estimates, and why it matters. Not uncontroversial, Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts will be of great interest to social scientists, policy wonks, and the wider reading public.

Martha Crenshaw, Stanford University:

This intriguing collection of essays is a refreshing counterpoint to the all too commonly accepted view that numbers and only numbers matter to scholarship and to policy and that such numbers are but neutral and accurate reflections of fact. This volume ably demonstrates the dangers of problematic statistics and dubious measures in the fields of armed conflict and transnational crime. Its findings should generate an abundance of healthy skepticism.

Joel Best, University of Delaware, author of Stat-Spotting: A Field Guide to Identifying Dubious Data:

Statistics can be like sausages: the more you know about how they're produced, the less appetizing they seem. Each essay in this excellent collection explores how political considerations rework best guesses and stab-in-the-dark estimates into 'hard numbers' that, in turn, are used to justify international policies on human trafficking, illicit drugs, and warfare. Readers risk losing their complacent confidence in 'what the data show.'

Peter Reuter, University of Maryland College Park:

Scoffing at the politicization of numbers in policy debates is now standard fare. This book is the first to move from scoffing to a serious analysis of the process of politicization.

John Mueller, Ohio State University:

Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts is terrific. It demonstrates that quantitative misrepresentation is not an idiosyncratic problem but one that is widespread and often detrimental. The authors make sense of the numbers that are thrown around so liberally by interested parties and which so often influence or even determine, important and costly public policies.

Jack Shafer:

If you're a journalist, a gluttonous consumer of news, or are easily swayed by the slapdash, stop what you're doing and go buy a copy of Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict. Set aside a couple of hours tonight to read three or four of the essays that academics Peter Andreas and Kelly M. Greenhill collected in it. Then, sit down in front of your computer and send me an e-mail to thank me for helping to end your enslavement to the dodgy numbers that taint journalism and public policy. It's not just a good book. It's a great book. And it belongs forever on your bookshelf.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Contributors Peter Andreas, Thomas J. Biersteker, Sue E. Eckert, David A. Feingold, H. Richard Friman, Kelly M. Greenhill, John Hagan, Lara J. Nettelfield, Wenona Rymond-Richmond, Winifred Tate and Kay B Warren Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
1.Introduction: the politics of numbers Peter Andreas and Kelly M. Greenhill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2.The Politics of Measuring Illicit Flows and Policy Effectiveness Peter Andreas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
3.Trafficking in Numbers: the social construction of human trafficking data David A. Feingold Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
4. Numbers and Certification: assessing foreign compliance in combating narcotics and human trafficking H. Richard Friman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	75
5. The Illusiveness of Counting “Victims” and the Concreteness of Ranking Countries: trafficking in persons from Colombia to Japan Kay B. Warren Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	110
6. Counting the Cost: the politics of numbers in armed conflict Kelly M. Greenhill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
7. Research and Repercussions of Death Tolls: the case of the Bosnian book of the dead Lara J. Nettelfield Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
8. The Ambiguous Genocide: the U.S. state department and the death toll in Darfur John Hagan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
9. Accounting for Absence: the Colombian paramilitaries in U.S. policy debates Winifred Tate Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
10. (Mis)Measuring Success in Countering the Financing of Terrorism Sue E. Eckert and Thomas J. Biersteker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
11. Conclusion: the numbers in politics Peter Andreas and Kelly M. Greenhill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 304
Illustrations
- Other: 7 charts/graphs, 10 tables
Keywords: Sociology & Social Science; Political Science & Political History; International Studies

eBook

Published: January 15, 2011
ISBN: 9780801458309