Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Organised Criminal Groups and Conflict: The Nature and Consequences of Interdependence

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13698240802407066

1743-968X

Jaremey R. McMullin,

Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance

Abstract The relationship between criminality and conflict subverts traditional assumptions about organised crime. Consequently, analysis of the ‘criminal’ must be anchored to specific conflict contexts rather than to a universal typology of organised criminal groups. Organised crime and conflict are interdependent. In several conflict states, organised crime has exacerbated the level of violence and contributed to conflict's intractability. Conflict, meanwhile, creates unique opportunities for criminality to flourish and amplifies the threat that criminal groups pose to security, development and governance. Unless the peculiar supply and demand dynamics of conflict are addressed by the peace process, law enforcement initiatives alone will fail. Notes 1. United Nations General Assembly, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, Report of the Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, A/59/565, 2 Dec. 2004, para. 165. 2. African Union, African Common Position on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Second African Union Ministerial Conference on Drug Control, Mauritius, 14–17 Dec. 2004, paras. 1–3. 3. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Transnational Organised Crime in the West African Region (New York: United Nations 2005) p.13. 4. UNODC, Crime and Development in Africa (Vienna: UNODC Jun. 2005) p.xi. 5. UNODC and Government of Afghanistan Ministry of Counter Narcotics, Afghanistan Opium Survey 2006, Sept. 2006, p.2. 6. Independent Monitoring Commission, Twelfth Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (London: Crown Copyright Oct. 2006) para. 5.6. 7. Donald R. Cressey, ‘Methodological Problems in the Study of Organised Crime as a Social Problem’, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 374 (Nov. 1967) p.102. 8. UNODC, Crime and Development (note 4) p.1. 9. André Standing, Rival Views of Organised Crime, Monograph No. 77 (Institute for Security Studies 2003) p.1. 10. Howard Abadinski, Organised Crime, Nelson-Hall Series in Law, Crime, and Justice (Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 4th ed. 1994) p.2, emphasis added. 11. Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, Greed and Grievance in Civil War, Policy Research Working Paper No. 2355 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2000); Mats Berdal and David Malone (eds), Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars (Boulder: Lynne Rienner 2000); and William Reno, Warlord Politics and African States (Boulder: Lynne Rienner 1999). 12. Karen Ballentine and Jake Sherman (eds), The Political Economy of Armed Conflict: Beyond Greed and Grievance (Boulder: Lynne Rienner and the International Peace Academy 2003). 13. United Nations General Assembly, United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, A/RES/55/25, 8 Jan. 2001, Article 2a. 14. Ibid. Article 2c, emphasis added. 15. For the articulation of this normative claim, see Donald Cressey, Theft of the Nation (New York: Harper and Row 1969); see also Standing (note 9) pp.3–4. 16. Standing (note 9) p.6. 17. UNODC, Crime and Development (note 4) p.22. 18. Patricia Adler, Wheeling and Dealing: An Ethnography of an Upper-Level Drug Dealing and Smuggling Community (New York: Appleton-Century Crofts 1985) p.148. 19. UNODC, Transnational Organised Crime (note 3) pp.2, 11; UNODC, Crime and Development (note 4) p.38. 20. Standing (note 9) pp.12–13; Letizia Paoli, ‘Criminal Fraternities or Criminal Enterprises’ in Phil Williams and Dmitri Vlassis (eds) Combating Transnational Crime: Concepts, Activities and Responses (London: Frank Cass 2001) pp.88–108. 21. UNODC, Crime and Development (note 4) p.21. 22. Phil Williams, ‘Organizing Transnational Organised Crime: Networks, Markets and Hierarchies’ in Phil Williams and Dmitri Vlassis (eds) Combating Transnational Crime: Concepts, Activities and Responses (London: Frank Cass 2001); Vincenzo Ruggiero, ‘Criminals and Service Providers: Cross-National Dirty Economies’, Crime, Law and Social Change 28 (1997) pp.27–38. 23. Peter Andreas and Ethan Nadelmann, Policing the Globe: Criminalization and Crime Control in International Relations (Oxford: OUP 2006) p.7. 24. Phil Williams, ‘Transnational Criminal Organisations and International Security’, Survival 36/1 (1994) p.102. 25. Independent Monitoring Commission (note 6) para. 2.14. 26. Standing (note 9) p.59. 27. Peter Gastrow, Organised Crime in South Africa: An Assessment of Its Nature and Origins (Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies 1998) p.9. 28. Mary Kaldor, New and Old Wars: Organised Violence in a Global Era (Cambridge: Polity P 1998) p.8. 29. Macartan Humphreys, ‘Natural Resources, Conflict, and Conflict Resolution: Uncovering the Mechanisms’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 49/4 (2005) pp.508–37; Michael Ross, ‘How Do Natural Resources Influence Civil War? A Medium-N Analysis’, 2 Jan. 2003, unpublished paper, online at < http://www.international.ucla.edu/cms/files/Dec%202002%20draft.pdf>. 30. UNODC, Crime and Development (note 4) p.19. 31. Ballentine and Sherman (note 12). 32. Kate Meagher, ‘Social Capital or Analytical Liability? Social Networks and African Informal Economies’, Global Networks 5/3 (2005) pp.217–38. 33. UNODC, Promoting the Prevention of Crime: Guidelines and Selected Projects (Vienna: UNODC Feb. 2004) p.24. 34. Gail Wannenburg, ‘Organised Crime in West Africa’, African Security Review 14/4 (2005) pp.6–8; Reno, Warlord Politics (note 11). 35. Wannenburg (note 34) p.8; UNODC, Crime and Development (note 4) p.38. 36. Andreas and Nadelmann (note 23) p.38. 37. Security Council resolutions sanctioning UNITA in Angola for its illicit diamond trading include 864 (15 Sept. 1993), 1127 (28 Aug. 1997), 1173 (12 Jun. 1998) and 1176 (24 Jun. 1998). Sanctions imposed against armed factions in Sierra Leone include Security Council resolutions 1171 (5 Jun. 1998), 1306 (5 Jul. 2000) and the Council applied sanctions to Liberia for its role in importing and exporting conflict diamonds from Sierra Leone in resolution 1343 (7 Mar. 2001). 38. United Nations, ‘Haiti: UN Peacekeepers Launch Large-Scale Operation against Criminal Gangs’, United Nations News Centre, 10 Feb. 2007. 39. Mark Duffield, ‘Post-Modern Conflict: Warlords, Post-Adjustment States and Private Protection’, Civil Wars 1/1 (1998) pp.66–102. 40. Clarence Tshitereke, Securing Democracy: Party Finance and Party Donations – the South African Challenge, Institute for Security Studies Paper No. 63 (Pretoria and Cape Town: Institute for Security Studies 2000) p.2. 41. Colette Rausch (ed.), Combating Serious Crimes in Postconflict Societies: A Handbook for Policymakers and Practitioners (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace P Dec. 2006) pp.5–6. 42. Author's interviews with Liberian youth, Voinjama (Lofa County), Liberia, Apr. 2007. 43. UNSC, ‘The Situation in Afghanistan and Its Implications for Peace and Security: Report of the Secretary-General’, S/2006/727, 11 Sept. 2006, para. 65. 44. Janice E. Thomson, ‘State Sovereignty in International Relations: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Empirical Research’, International Studies Quarterly 39/2 (1995) p.216. 45. Mark Shaw, ‘The Development and Control of Organised Crime in Post-Apartheid South Africa’ in Stanley Einstein and Menachem Amir (eds) Organised Crime: Uncertainties and Dilemmas (Chicago: Office of International Criminal Justice 1999) p.98. 46. William Reno, ‘African Weak States and Commercial Alliances’, African Affairs 96/383 (1997) pp.165–86. 47. Peter A. Lupsha, ‘Transnational Organised Crime versus the Nation-State’, Transnational Organised Crime, 2/1 (1996) p.23. 48. David Keen, The Economic Functions of Violence in Civil Wars, Adelphi Paper No. 320 (London: International Institute of Strategic Studies, 1998). 49. Philippe Le Billon, ‘A Land Cursed by Its Wealth? Angola's War Economy (1975–1999)’, UNU/WIDER Work in Progress Series No. 23 (Helsinki: UNU/WIDER 1999). 50. United Nations Panel of Experts, ‘Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’, UNSC, S/2001/357, 12 Apr. 2001. 51. UNODC, Crime and Development (note 4) p.35. 52. UNSC S/2006/727 (note 43) para. 6. See also Barnett R. Rubin, ‘The Political Economy of War and Peace in Afghanistan’, World Development 28/10 (2000) pp.1789–1803. 53. John F. Burns, ‘U.S. Finds Iraq Insurgency Has Funds to Sustain Itself’, New York Times, 26 Nov. 2006. 54. Michael Ross, ‘Natural Resources and Civil War: An Overview with Some Policy Options’, Paper submitted to the conference on The Governance of Natural Resources Revenues, World Bank and Agence Francaise de Developpement, Paris, 9–10 Dec. 2002, pp.20–25. 55. Independent Monitoring Commission (note 6) para. 2.7. 56. Ronald K. Noble, Secretary-General of Interpol, ‘The Links between Intellectual Property Crime and Terrorist Financing’, Testimony before the United States House Committee on International Relations, 108th Congress, 16 Jul. 2003. 57. Author's interview with Lawrence Sesay, Project Coordinator, Post-Conflict Reintegration Initiative for Development and Empowerment, Freetown, Sierra Leone, 5 Jul. 2005. 58. UNSC, ‘Twenty-third Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone’, 9 Sept. 2004, S/2004/724, para. 6. 59. Author's interview with Mark White, Deputy Programme Manager, Sierra Leone, West Africa Department, Department for International Development, Freetown, 4 Jul. 2005. 60. Paoli (note 20). 61. Charles Tilly, ‘War Making and State Makings as Organised Crime’, in Peter B. Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer and Theda Skocpol (eds) Bringing the State Back In (Cambridge: CUP 1985) pp.169–91, p.169. See also Paul Collier, ‘Rebellion as a Quasi-Criminal Activity’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 44/6 (2000) p.840. 62. Roger MacGinty, ‘Looting in the Context of Violent Conflict: A Conceptualisation and Typology’, Third World Quarterly 25/5 (2004) p.868. 63. Michael Kenney, ‘When Criminals Out-smart the State: Understanding the Learning Capacity of Colombian Drug Trafficking Organisations’, Transnational Organised Crime 5/1 (1999) p.114. 64. See, for example, World Bank, ‘Post-Conflict Recovery in Africa: An Agenda for the Africa Region’, Africa Region Working Paper Series No. 30, Apr. 2002, p.5. 65. Independent Monitoring Commission (note 6) paras. 2.12–2.14. 66. Francisco Gutierrez Sanin, ‘Criminal Rebels: A Discussion of War and Criminality from the Colombian Experience’, Politics and Society 32/2 (2004) pp.257–85. 67. Rausch (note 41) p.5. 68. Mark Shaw, Democracy's Disorder? Crime, Police and Citizen Responses in Transitional Societies (Johannesburg: South African Institute of International Affairs 2002); UNODC, Why Fighting Crime Can Assist Development in Africa: Rule of Law and Protection of the Most Vulnerable (Vienna: UNODC May 2005) pp.24–25. 69. UNODC, Crime and Development (note 4) p.31. 70. Peter Gastrow and Marcelo Mosse, ‘Mozambique: Threats Posed by the Penetration of Criminal Networks’, Institute for Security Studies Regional Seminar, Organised Crime, Corruption and Governance in the SADC Region, Pretoria, 18–19 Apr. 2002, p.21. 71. African Union (note 2) para. 16. 72. UNSC, ‘Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti’, S/2006/592, 28 Jul. 2006, paras 51, 54. 73. International Crisis Group, ‘Haiti: Security and Reintegration of the State’, Latin America/Caribbean Briefing No. 12, 30 Oct. 2006, p.11. 74. UNSC (note 72) paras 12, 53–54. 75. Ibid. para. 64. 76. Government of Sierra Leone, Report of the Sierra Leone Security Sector Review (SSR), Security Sector Review Secretariat, Office of National Security, Freetown, Mar. 2005; Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone, Witness to Truth: Report of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2005, Vol. 3a: Chap. 2 and Vol. 3b: Chap. 5. 77. UNSC, ‘The Situation in Afghanistan and Its Implications for International Peace and Security: Report of the Secretary-General’, S/2007/152, 15 Mar. 2007, para. 61. Relevant reportage includes James Risen, ‘Poppy Fields are Now a Front Line in Afghanistan War’, New York Times, 16 May 2007; and Jon Lee Anderson, ‘The Taliban's Opium War: The Difficulties and Dangers of the Eradication Program’, New Yorker, 9 Jul. 2007. 78. See, for example, UNODC, Transnational Organised Crime (note 3) p.19; and United Nations General Assembly (note 1) para. 228. 79. International Crisis Group, ‘Haiti’ (note 73) p.4. 80. UNSC, ‘Twenty-fifth Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone’, S/2005/273, 26 Apr. 2005, para. 25. 81. UNSC, ‘Twelfth Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Liberia’, S/2006/743, 12 Sept. 2006, para. 77. 82. Joint Government of Liberia – United Nations Rubber Plantations Task Force, Report presented to H. E. Mrs Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, 23 May 2006. 83. Jaremey McMullin, ‘Reintegration of Combatants: Were the Right Lessons Learned in Mozambique?’ International Peacekeeping 11/4 (2004) pp.625–43. 84. International Crisis Group, ‘Afghanistan: Getting Disarmament Back on Track’, Asia Briefing No. 35, Kabul and Brussels, 23 Feb. 2005, p.1. 85. Mark Duffield, ‘Getting Savages to Fight Barbarians: Development, Security and the Colonial Present’, Conflict, Security and Development 5/2 (2005) pp.141–59; Neil Cooper, ‘Picking Out the Pieces of the Liberal Peaces: Representations of Conflict Economies and the Implications for Policy’, Security Dialogue 36/4 (2005) pp.463–78. 86. UN General Assembly, A/59/565 (High-Level Panel Report) (note 1) para. 166; UNSC S/2007/152 (note 77) paras 60–63. 87. Independent Monitoring Commission, First Report of the Independent Monitoring Commission, London, Crown Copyright, Apr. 2004, para. 6.13. 88. UNMIL, RRR&JMAC Hotspot Assessment III, ‘Ex-Combatants and Chains of Command in Liberia’, Draft 2, UNMIL, Monrovia, 13 Apr. 2007. 89. Gregory Kisunko, Aymo Brunetti and Beatrice Weder, ‘Institutional Obstacles to Doing Business: Region by Region Results from a Worldwide Survey of the Private Sector’, Policy Research Working Paper No. 1759 (Washington, DC: World Bank Nov. 1999); World Bank, ‘Corruption and Development’, PREM Notes No. 4, May 1998; UNODC, Crime and Development (note 4) p.xiv. 90. UN Economic Commission on Africa, ‘Obstacles to Africa's Development’, Economic Report on Africa (New York: UNECA 2000) p.26. 91. Louise Shelley, ‘Identifying, Counting and Categorizing Transnational Criminal Organisations’, Transnational Organised Crime 5/1 (1999) p.1. 92. Susan Strange, The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy (Cambridge: CUP 1996). 93. Martinho Chachiua, ‘The Evolution of Operation Rachel, 1996–1999’, Institute for Security Studies Monograph No. 38, Jun. 1999. 94. UNODC, Investigating the Links between Access to Justice and Governance Factors: An Objective Indicators' Approach (Vienna: UNODC May 2001). 95. UNSC, ‘Second Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Integrated Office in Sierra Leone’, S/2006/695, 29 Aug. 2006, para. 3. 96. Charles B. Yates, ‘Ex-Combatants Storm UNDP Office’, The Inquirer (Monrovia, Liberia), 17 Jul. 2007. 97. Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, ‘Aid, Policy and Growth in Post-Conflict Societies’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2902, Oct. 2002. 98. United Nations, Integrated Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration Standards (New York: United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations 2006) Section 2.30, para. 6.4. 99. International Crisis Group, Liberia and Sierra Leone: Rebuilding Failed States, Africa Report No. 87 (Brussels: ICG 8 Dec. 2004). 100. Wannenburg (note 34) p.14. 101. Ross (note 54).