| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The essay explores the relationship between organised crime and stabilisation, drawing on case-studies from Afghanistan, Latin America, Russia, and West Africa. It pays particular attention to the role that organised crime does or could play in enhancing stability, and pushes back against a number of easy assumptions: that organised crime is unlikely to be a crucial partner in political settlement; that organised crime will always have a net destabilising effect, and; that organised crime has a distinct identity and an exclusively economic motivation. It concludes that four factors will determine whether or not particular organised criminal networks should be bound into a political settlement or excluded from it: the nature and extent of the public authority exerted by the organised criminal network and the level of legitimacy and support that it enjoys; the role of the organised criminal network in the 'governance subversion' nexus; the role of the organised criminal network in the 'logistical nexus', or its links with insurgents, terrorists and other militant groups, and; the impact on the stabilisation narrative and on the reputation of the host government, the UK and the international community.
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