"Garbage is Gold": The Emerging Threat for Human Security

Abstract: Corruption may be interpreted as adopting different theoretical perspectives privileging the individual, organizational or contextual dimension. The consequences of its widespread diffusion within human society have been typically linked to economic and social damages. In our contribution, we want to explore the relationship between the adoption of corruption practices and the impacts on human security. We claim that the effects of corruption cannot be limited to social and economic dimensions, since they may affect the quality of life and even on the human beings’ health conditions. To shed light on these effects, this paper first focuses on the analysis of corruption within the managerial debate. Second, we address the concept of human security by showing the possible overlapping areas. Finally, we present the results stemming from the analysis of a case study related to the illegal traffic of toxic waste from northern Italy to the Campania region. We adopt a qualitative research methodology, relying on official judiciary sources to develop and validate the concepts that are objects of our analysis.