Kidnapping is a pervasive presence across a range of insecure global settings: fragile states where crime, violence and impunity reign; diverse conflict-zones; unstable regions where global inequalities play out; and, increasingly, the precarious paths of migrant flows. Whilst this illicit phenomenon is often presented in sensationalist terms by the media, as a research topic kidnapping remains under-examined and under-theorised. It is also an illicit practice that, despite its prevalence, has been somewhat neglected by global crime policy intervention. Certainly, elite-kidnappings for ransom and abductions by militant groups are recognised as important concerns. However, the (often-uncritical) concentration upon these more orthodox manifestations of kidnapping, and state-led responses to it, masks other variants of this illicit practice, as well as innovations in counter-kidnapping from beyond the state.
In this context, increased academic attention and exchange is required to address this research deficit. There is a pressing need to better understand the contextual factors, the local-global interplay and the licit-illicit intersections that shape kidnapping dynamics, as well as counter-kidnapping responses, across the world. Further, kidnapping must be appreciated as sitting within a fluid spectrum of criminality: one where it overlaps with other illicit activities and markets; one where the status of both victims and perpetrators is fluid and temporally evolving; and, one where the immobilizing impulse of kidnapping also triggers multiple mobilities and mobilizations.
For these reasons, we are hosting this event to bring more co-ordinated research attention to kidnapping, as well as to promote broader academic exchange that encompasses its connections with wider, often intersecting, crimes of (im)mobility.
