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Investigating the legitimisation of criminal governance

Secret Power:
the social psychology of criminal governance

Secret Power is an international research programme on organised crime, criminal authority and community responses to mafias and gangs. Led by Professor Giovanni Travaglino at Royal Holloway, University of London, it investigates how criminal groups gain legitimacy, why people accommodate or resist their power, and how young people develop their relationships with law and legal authorities.

What is criminal governance?

Criminal governance is the exercise of authority by criminal groups over communities: shaping rules and behaviour, controlling protection and resolving disputes outside legal institutions.

What does Secret Power investigate?

The project examines how cultural values, social identities and trust in institutions shape the legitimacy of criminal authority. It studies community responses and resistance, and the development of legal socialisation during adolescence. The international programme combines population surveys, experiments and longitudinal research, with a particular focus on Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Understanding these processes can inform research, education and public debate about how communities respond to organised crime and relate to legal authorities.

Secret Power was awarded an ERC Starting Grant and is funded by UKRI through the Frontier Research Guarantee.

Explore the research

Project overview and research questions · Research measures · Publications and outputs · Open research resources · Socialising Legality study

News

Research Team

Prof. Giovanni Travaglino

Principal Investigator
Royal Holloway
University of London

Dr Marylisa Alemi

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Royal Holloway
University of London

Dr Silvana D'Ottone

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Royal Holloway
University of London

UK

Dr. Pascal Burgmer

Project Member
University of Southampton

Dr. Hirotaka Imada

Project Member
Royal Holloway
University of London

Italy

Dr. Alberto Mirisola

Project Member
University of Palermo

Dr. Isabella Giammusso

Project Member
University of Palermo

Dr Maddalena Marini

Project Member
University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”

Japan

Dr. Kengo Nawata

Project Member
Fukuoka University

Dr. Miki Ozeki

Project Member
Okayama University

Hong Kong

Dr. Karim Bettache

Project Member
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Advisory Board

Prof. Alex Stevens

Advisory Board Member
University of Sheffield
UK

Prof. Clifford Stott

Advisory Board Member
Keele University
UK

Prof. Harmonie Toros

Advisory Board Member
University of Reading
UK

Prof. Patricia M. Rodriguez Mosquera

Advisory Board Member
Wesleyan University
USA

Secret Power was awarded an ERC Starting Grant and is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Frontier Research Guarantee.

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