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1. Together or Alone? Policy Brief The need for increased Albanian-Dutch cooperation to fight transnational organised crime

Author:
Alban Dafa and Wouter Zweers
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations
Abstract:
In recent years the Netherlands has voiced security-related concerns about the involvement of Albanians nationals in organised crime in the Netherlands. These concerns culminated in a request to the European Commission to suspend visa-free travel for Albanians to the EU. This policy brief argues that the current Dutch approach does not provide the best means to address issues of organised crime, such as drug trafficking, related to Albanian nationals. It identifies several inadequacies in the crime data used to substantiate the Dutch position and the way Dutch authorities publicly communicate them. It posits that greater bilateral cooperation beyond the EU accession framework could improve efforts to fight transnational organised crime effectively. The opening of EU accession negotiations with Albania may offer a window of opportunity to formulate a constructive agenda of cooperation beyond the formal EU enlargement framework. This policy brief was written by Alban Dafa from the Institute for Democracy and Mediation and Wouter Zweers (the Clingendael Institute).
Topic:
Security, Law Enforcement, Transnational Actors, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Europe, Albania, and Netherlands

2. The impact of COVID-19 on organised crime in the Western Balkans

Author:
International Institute for Strategic Studies
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Institute for Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The fourth in a series analysing the ways COVID-19 is affecting stability across the world, this paper explores the impact on organised crime in the Western Balkans of the health and economic crisis brought about by the pandemic. Criminal organisations active in the Western Balkans have proved very apt at exploiting the evolution of the pandemic and related government responses to expand their activities regionally and globally. The key role played by the European Union in recent times to promote the rule of law and institutional reforms against organised crime in the region is at risk of setback given its limited economic firepower post-COVID-19 and China’s increasing influence through its economic and investment diplomacy. Law-enforcement agencies will struggle to prevent criminal groups from further infiltrating the region’s economies amid increasing budgetary constraints. Western Balkans governments should use the current challenging circumstances as an opportunity to redefine medium- and long-term priorities in their efforts against organised crime. However, for these efforts to be successful, the sustained political and operational support of other countries will be needed, given the expanding international reach of regional criminal groups.
Topic:
Political stability, Public Health, Pandemic, COVID-19, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
China, Europe, Asia, and Balkans

3. The National Liberation Army in Colombia and Venezuela: Illicit finance challenges stemming from illegal mining

Author:
Andres Martinez-Fernandez
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas remain a potent challenge for regional security and development. The ELN is growing in Colombia and Venezuela, thanks to its involvement in illegal mining, now the most important revenue source for the guerrilla group. The ELN’s illegal mining remains virtually unrestricted in Venezuela, thanks to the Nicolás Maduro regime’s complicity. At the same time, despite the Colombian government’s recent efforts, illegal mining continues to take place throughout Colombia, benefiting armed groups like the ELN. To cut off the ELN from this vital revenue source, the United States and Colombia must work to expand the presence of the state in areas affected by illegal mining, formalize artisanal miners, strengthen the state’s enforcement and investigatory capacities, and isolate Venezuela from global gold markets.
Topic:
Crime, Mining, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Colombia, Latin America, Venezuela, and United States of America

4. U.S.-Mexico Drug Trafficking: Globalization, Cooperation and Challenges

Author:
Juan Carlos Gachúz Maya
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Criminal organizations have taken advantage of some of the benefits of the globalization process, have expanded their networks and have become groups that operate regionally and transnationally. The context of globalization entails the need to reform the structure of institutions and their way of operating at the domestic and regional levels. International cooperation between national institutions is not enough to face international challenges such as regional and global crime. The fight against drug trafficking networks between the U.S.and Mexico demands new institutional structures that involve the participation of state and non-state actors at a regional and global level.
Topic:
Globalization, Narcotics Trafficking, Drugs, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
North America, Mexico, and United States of America

5. Modernization of the Strategic Intelligence System for National Security in Mexico / Modernización del Sistema de Inteligencia Estratégica para la Seguridad Nacional en México

Author:
Manuel Ignacio Balcazar Villareal
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Derived from the review and analysis of the production of national strategic intelligence, and its implications for National Security in Mexico, a model is proposed that systematizes and integrates the identified components, in order to provide elements that strengthen intelligence capabilities national. The proposal is the result of interviews with producers and consumers of intelligence, as well as academic and professional experience of the author, after analyzing the functioning of other systems and collegiate mechanisms.
Topic:
Intelligence, National Security, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Central America and Mexico

6. Drug Trafficking between Latin America and Africa: A contemporary Case between Security and Global Governance / Narcotráfico entre América Latina y África: un caso contemporáneo entre seguridad y gobernanza global

Author:
Mohamed Badine El Yattioui and Claudia Barona Castañeda
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
In this paper, we will analyze two regions and the relationship between them, concerning drug trafficking (excepting Morocco, a hashish producer), posing a great variability challenges for State Security and their formal cooperation and even further, a real concern of global governance matter. How to create original and international instruments adapted to fight this illegal market, which has an impact on Europe?
Topic:
Security, International Affairs, Narcotics Trafficking, Drugs, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Africa and Latin America

7. The Fight against Organized Crime and Terrorism in Uruguay: A Challenge to Confront / La lucha contra el crimen organizado y el terrorismo en Uruguay: Un desafío a enfrentar

Author:
María del Rosario Rodríguez Cuitiño
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Organized crime has grown in the world and in the region, and its criminal operations do not escape Uruguay. Among the challenges facing the State, is the fight against organized crime, especially drug trafficking, money laundering and arms theft. Likewise, the links that may arise between organized crime and terrorism must be addressed as a threat. This work aims to reflect about these threats that affect the Security and Defense of the State and what has been their response to this problem that has been placed in a first plane in the public agenda.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Terrorism, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
South America and Uruguay

8. Politics, Police and Violence: The Regulation of Drug Trafficking in the Southern Cone / Política, policía y violencia: La regulación del Narcotráfico en el Cono Sur

Author:
Hernan Flom
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Despite being a transnational organized crime, drug trafficking has a local impact in terms of security and violence, which is typically managed by non-national state actors. This paper proposes that, given their juridical and material constraints, subnational state agencies, primarily police forces, regulate drug trafficking through a combination of toleration, repression and rent extraction. I also argue that greater coordination within law enforcement agencies at the subnational level leads to lower drug-related violence at the retail dealing level. I illustrate this argument with a subnational comparison of four cases in Argentina and Brazil during the last two decades.
Topic:
Narcotics Trafficking, Regulation, Violence, Drugs, Police, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, and South America

9. Brazil: the Re-signification of Violence as a Result of Criminal Organizations Advance / Brasil: la re-significación de la violencia como resultado del avance de organizaciones criminales

Author:
Carolina Sampó
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on International Security Studies (RESI)
Institution:
International Security Studies Group (GESI) at the University of Granada
Abstract:
Although Brazil has always been considered one of the most violent countries in the region, in the last years, violence has grown exponentially and has also become more complex. The present paper seeks to show how the increase of violence, especially in the North and Northeast of Brazil, is related to the dispute between different criminal organizations, by the illicit drug market since the end of the non-aggression agreement that the Primeiro Comando da Capital and the Comando Vermelho had. From a qualitative approach, combining documentary analysis of primary and secondary sources, with interviews with experts, our work tries to answer the following questions: What is the current situation of violence in Brazil and how has it been re-signified? After that, we will relate that mutation to the complex variety of criminal organizations that operate in its territory; and, finally, we will answer how these organizations relate to each other. The result of this work will enable the development of multiple lines of research, especially related to the confrontation between criminal organizations and the illicit drug market in Brazil.
Topic:
Narcotics Trafficking, Violence, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Brazil and South America

10. An Unholy Alliance of Muslim Extremists and Organized Crime in the Balkans Case Studies: Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina

Author:
Spiros Bamiatzis
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
Abstract:
The 1990s wars in Yugoslavia led to the disintegration of the country and ushered an era of poverty, political corruption, organized crime and terrorism. The Balkans became synonymous with the syndrome of a failed state, where civil society institutions are doomed to fail. The area has presented the international community with some unique challenges associated with unemployment, jihadism, crime and all those maladies under the wings of political leaderships that have given many reasons to the international community to doubt their credibility and their belief to the rule of law. This study will prove that a nexus exists between Islamic and ethno-nationalist terrorism and illegal criminal activities, and it will focus mainly in three countries: Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia Herzegovina.
Topic:
Corruption, Islam, Poverty, Violent Extremism, and Organized Crime
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Herzegovina, Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Balkans, and Albania