ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that security can also be conceptualized as being produced by various networks of actors—public and private. In the field of security, as in every other area of social organization, networks overlap and intersect on a number of levels. Security networks are porous and tracing boundaries can be a perilous exercize. Local security networks can be defined as initiatives that seek to harness the public and private resources available in local communities in order to overcome complex crime problems that find their origins in deteriorating social conditions. International security networks find their origins in equivalent processes. Virtual networks have accompanied the micro-electronics revolution and created the ability to access instantly information not previously so easily available. Agents will mobilize different types of “capital”—or context-specific resources—already in their possession in order to influence the operating parameters of the network and achieve their desired outcome.
