illicit: reviews

The New York Times Book Review (December 25, 2005)

Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy

Naím, the editor of Foreign Policy magazine, contends that the Bush administration's focus on traditional nation-states as the sources of terrorism and other maladies is a costly illusion. Instead, he concentrates on the modern-day buccaneers who are fleecing and menacing governments in rich and poor countries, whether by pirating movies or by smuggling weapons of mass destruction. The one thing uniting this disparate group of desperadoes, terrorists and unscrupulous officials, Naím says, goes back to Adam Smith: All it takes to get involved is an interest in the profit motive. Well-organized and informative, Naím's book includes portraits of everyone from A. Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, to Ronald K. Noble, the head of Interpol - and a mass of supporting detail that at times will excite only the most wonkish nerds. So eager is Naím to buttress his thesis that he probably underestimates the durability of nation-states. Still, he provides a valuable antidote to the notion that they are all that counts.