Author: federicovarese
I am a professor of criminology at the University of Oxford and Director of Exlegi. My main research interests are the study of organised crime, corruption, Soviet criminal history, and the dynamics of altruistic behaviour.
My first book, The Russian Mafia (Oxford University Press 2001), won the Ed Hewitt Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies in 2002 and has appeared in Dutch and Polish. My new book, Mafias on the Move, has appeared in 2011 in English and Italian (Princeton UP and Einaudi). I am also the deputy editor of the journal Global Crime and write (occasionally) for The Times Literary Supplement, The London review of Books, La Stampa, Lo Straniero.
This blog will update you on my publications and public activties. I will also post links to interesting events and material. Although I will mainly write about organized crime, I have a keen interest in cinema and literature ...
Quando i numeri diventano ideologia per dimostrare che gli italiani non vogliono aiutare l’Ucraina, Valigua Blu, 31.12.2025
Nel mondo mercantilista di Trump il potere economico risponde solo a lui, La Stampa, 13.01.2026
Caracas connection, cosa succederà ai narcotrafficanti dopo la caduta di Maduro, La Stampa, 06.01.2026
A Rio de Janeiro la retorica della forza a uso politico, La Stampa, 30.10.2025
John le Carré: Tradecraft, Weston Library, Oxford 1 October 2025 – 6 April 2026
Links to Selected Reviews of Tradecraft, the book and the exhibition, 08.11.2025
La lezione marchigiana. Resto del Carlino-Ferrara, 02.10.2025
John le Carré, la spia che mi era amica, 22.10.2025
Federico Varese 