Karen Bravo's Journal Article Summary

Karen Bravo’s journal article aims at demystifying the notion that the state is blameless in the evil of human trafficking. Bravo (2015: 9) builds the article around the foundational premise that even though the perpetrators of human trafficking are believed to be separate from the state, every state has the power to control individuals and organizations. In addition, the author proposes that the power to legislate makes the state an important element in defining and re-defining the reality for all citizens. The article covers a wide scope of legislative frameworks with which states can use to stop human trafficking. From this perspective, Bravo (2015) hypothesizes that the existence of human trafficking is the result of structural deficits,

The article’s definition of human trafficking augments that used by both Perez (2015: 10) and Hua (2014: 202). Through these definitions, Bravo (2015) recognizes various aspects of the problem that makes human trafficking common for certain target groups. The article shows clear rationale for conducting further research into the state’s contribution in human trafficking by unravelling the adverse implications of the practice on specific vulnerable groups in the society. Even though Bravo’s intention is to improve on the research already conducted by others, her research method reveals new information on various concepts especially those discussed at the February 2014 Symposium titled ‘Moving to Opportunity: Examining the risks and rewards of economic migration’ (Bravo 2015: 11). From the context of human migration as a function of economic performance, Bravo’s ideas go hand in hand with those of DeBoise (2014: 228) who proposes that indeed human trafficking has everything to do with the wide perspective of work and its economic implications. Further, Bravo (2015) delves into the legal implications of human trafficking expounding on the sensitive issue of exploitation as described by Gallagher (2015: 57). To that end, Bravo’s research method is suitable for the purpose. However, the article lacks a detailed description of existing structural discrepancies between states yet providing a wide

Bravo (2015) considers many factors that affect the state’s efforts to combat human trafficking. The descriptive analysis of the state’s power, state facilitation and state exploitation all help Bravo in making meaningful arguments in favor of her claim. While many analysts concede that the state has some degree of blame in the fight against illegal and forceful migration of people across borders, few have considered the issue along the dynamics of legal and economic implications with regard to the state’s contribution. Joarder & Miller (2013: 1335) give a short sneak view of the scenario of cross-border migration and how states can deal with the deficits induced by migration. However, they fail to underline the state’s blame in the evil in terms of structural and policy perspectives. In that regard, Bravo (2015) provides a sound analysis of the situation and consequently connects the analysis with the claim in a smooth