Salient developments in international criminal law and transnational law enforcement are reviewed that relate to drug trafficking. An attempt is made to explain what these developments reflect about the possibility of a transnational democratic world order. The author indicates that various law enforcement networks and organizations operate in a way that sets the legal framework for their operation rather than being confined by that legal framework. Further, on a transnational level, law enforcement agencies have sought to achieve an oligarchic rapprochement and thereby secure their continued monopoly of practical control over policing. Different forms of criminality, including drug trafficking, are policed by very different agencies and the ideological setting in which these agencies operate is also different. The author concludes that criminologists have a great deal of work to do as they explore the transnational domain of drug law enforcement. 36 references and 3 notes