Deviant globalization

The international organs, drugs, malware and weapons trades (among others) have been growing and flourishing, and the reason is globalization says Nils Gilman a consultant and scenario planner. Well, not regular old Thomas Friedman-style World is Flat type globalization, but deviant globalization. Gilman outlined his concept at the 2008 European Futurists Conference in Switzerland. Watch him describe how the global illicit economy works alongside — and expands with — the licit economy in an era of globalization (28:23).

Gilman presents seven rules of deviant globalization. Here is a reproduction of his slides where you can see each rule clearly:

Being that the talk was only 30 minutes, Gilman only had time to present the concept and the accompanying rules. The talk is entirely descriptive, offering no solutions to the problems. However, he does seem to emphasize international cooperation when cracking down on a specific illicit activity. Not doing so can act as an incubator, and cause more harm down the road in a different corner of the world via globalization (cf. his Brazilian hacker story).

If you look past all the social/political science jargon he throws at you, there is nothing really new in Gilman’s outlook, except perhaps the idea of professionalization under pressure of a crackdown. Nevertheless, it is a well put together presentation filled with interesting little anecdotes that I am sure the crowd here at CA would enjoy. If anybody has any suggestions for solutions, or more rules, sound off in the comments.

Via an old post by John Robb where there is a good discussion in the comments.