| Summary/Abstract |
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks hawala, an ancient form of money transfer, has come to prominent international attention due to its ostensible role in funding global terrorism. The United States and its international allies have initiated a host of measures to try and render hawala practices more visible and hence governable. This paper details some of these measures, paying particular attention to how they connect with larger dynamics of surveillance, documentation and trust. We suggest that because officials have ignored distinctive attributes of hawala that pertain to these three dynamics, their regulatory efforts will likely have little impact on the operation of hawala. Our concluding discussion posits a number of alternative factors that might explain why officials have embraced these particular measures to try and regulate hawala.
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