February 10, 2019 Annual Dinner Meeting Presentation by Prof. Louise Shelley The Dark Side of the Textile Trade: From the Silk Road to Today Some pictures click on the thumbnail for the full picture. Throughout history, textiles have always been one of the most valued components of international trade. Therefore, both individuals and states have sought to profit from this trade in both illegal and immoral ways. The problem of counterfeit products is not new, but was already an issue centuries ago, when British traders flooded the Venetian market with their products labelled "Made in Venice." When cochineal was the most valuable product out of the New World, many pirates and traders sought to acquire cochineal and break the Spanish monopoly. This survey of illicit trade will discuss the abuses of the textile trade for both commercial and political objectives. Dr. Shelley will reveal a largely unknown story of crime and often state-sponsored criminal trade. Dr. Louise Shelley is a University Professor and the Omer L. and Nancy Hirst Endowed Chair at Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University. She founded and directs the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC). Her most recent books are: Dirty Entanglements: Corruption, Crime and Terrorism (Cambridge University Press, 2014) and Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective (Cambridge 2010). Her forthcoming book, Dark Commerce: How a New Illicit Economy is Threatening our Future (Princeton University Press) was written while an inaugural Andrew Carnegie fellow. Professor Shelley has received Guggenheim, Fulbright, Rockefeller and many other fellowships and grants to support her research. She served for six years on Global Agenda Councils of the World Economic Forum, first on the Illicit Trade Council and then as the inaugural co-chair of Organized Crime. Dr. Shelley appears frequently in the media, lectures widely at universities and multinational bodies and has testified repeatedly before Congress on financial crime and illicit flows, illicit trade, human trafficking, and the crime-terror relationship. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. return to home page