Dr Serena Simoni is an Associate Professor and Director of the International Relations Program at Samford University in the US. Dr Simoni’s teaching and research interests include International Relations, International Security, International Organizations, Human Security, International Law, and Gender. She is the author of the book Understanding Transatlantic Relations: Whither the West?, a recent book chapter Transnational organized crime and globalization: godmothers of the Mafia and the undermining of the Italian state and society. She is currently working on her second book, Queenpins of Organized Crime: Gender Hierarchy in Context.