ABSTRACT
This volume sets out to identify and analyze changes in the trade and actors involved in human trafficking globally and in the Baltic Sea region subsequent to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Recognizing that neither trade in humans nor organized crime are new phenomena, it focuses on the changes that the dissolution of the Soviet Union brought with it in terms of the structure, substance, and impact on societies of the trade and the organized crime originating from the former Soviet Union. Its main empirical focus is the northern parts of the Baltic Sea region, but its theoretical ambitions go further. Trafficking in human beings in the Baltic Sea region is analyzed in a global, political, societal, and economical context. The study highlights the impact of the dissolution of the Soviet Union on the supply of victims of the trade on a global level. It also explains the impact of this dissolution on smuggling routes and on the anatomy of the organized crime networks with their origins in the former Soviet Union. This approach allows for conclusions to be drawn concerning the impact of the trade on both state and human security in countries of origin, transit, and destination.
