War, Crime and the Privatization of Violence
Beach scene in Mogadishu
This week's dossier explores some of the characteristics of the global political-criminal nexus. It first looks at kleptocracies and tries to answer an obvious question -- how and why do so many states 'thrive' by plundering their own resources and exploiting their own people? After exploring this form of nationalized theft, we'll then turn our attention to warlords and their often toxic relationship with failed, fragile or pseudo-states -- i.e., we'll look at violent and criminal actors who, in some cases, rise to become prominent (but also predatory) politicians. But wait -- is the latter phenomenon automatically bad? Do warlords merely embody a pernicious or can they actually do some good? Can they, for example, build new polities from the ashes of the past? After grappling with the above problems and questions, we'll then turn our attention to the privatization of violence and the spread of criminalized conflicts. More precisely, we'll consider the forces that facilitate their growth -- corruption at the local, national and international levels; hidden-hand and 'legitimate' arms dealers; and the assorted 'service industries' of the global underworld. (It is, after all, due to the entrepreneurial zeal of these 'industries' that the gangsters, genocidaires and gunmen of our world can be as effective as they regrettably are.) And yet, as omnipresent and influential as these actors may be, there is always hope. That is why in the final part of this series we will look at some of the possible solutions, from transnational programs to grassroots initiatives, that might help blunt the crime-conflict nexus.
Additional Content
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- Organized Crime, Conflict, and Fragility (Publication)
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- The Global Regime for Transnational Crime (Publication)
This paper looks at international efforts to combat transnational organized crime (TOC).
- Mexico’s Drug Trafficking Organizations (Publication)
This report provides background on drug trafficking in Mexico.
- Drug Trafficking, Violence, and Instability (Publication)
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- In Transit: Gangs and Criminal Networks in Guyana (Publication)
Much of the existing academic literature relevant to Guyana fails to address the specific issue of g...
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Despite recent tensions in the bilateral relationship between Russia and the United States, cooperat...
- Spotting the Spoilers: A Guide to Analyzing Organized Crime in Fragile States (Publication)
This guide provides an overview of the steps analysts can take to understand serious organized crime.
- Illicit Trafficking of Nuclear and Other Radioactive Material (Publication)
This paper discusses the illicit trafficking of nuclear or other radioactive material, which is cons...
- A National Survey of Small Arms and Light Weapons in Côte d’Ivoire (Publication)
Sub-regional instability, conflict, the emergence of armed groups, the deterioration of law and orde...
