State Fragility and Organized Crime in West Africa

State Fragility and Organized Crime in West Africa

Author: Victor Ukpong

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2018-06-22

Total Pages: 19

ISBN-13: 366873352X

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Document from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - Region: Africa, grade: -, , language: English, abstract: West African states have become increasingly porous and vulnerable to the activities of organized criminal networks which negatively impact their security situations. At the same time, there are various national and bilateral concerns to tackle these problems and restore the security situation in these countries, yet they remain vulnerable to these quagmires, which are expressed in the forms of human trafficking/ smuggling, drug trafficking, armed robbery, money laundry and arms trafficking which have had tremendous effects on the security of these countries. However, the ease at which these crimes are executed across the sub-region signals the cooptation or involvement of some state officials, whose role is to pave way for the smooth execution of these of these nefarious acts for their private gains. In line with the foregoing, it has become necessary to interrogate the role of the criminal justice systems in the sub region. This paper examines the dynamics of corruption and institutional lapses within the context of state fragility in West Africa and determines whether or not the sub-region does lack the capacity necessary to accurately respond to the methods utilized by trafficking networks in their businesses viewing from their proliferation in the sub-region despite their threats and efforts made to counter them. The research makrd use of secondary data and the data is derived from an in-depth review of related literature on the subject mainly from online journal articles. The result of the findings shows that states’ failure to adequately position and manage their security apparatuses can give room for infiltrations that can entirely corrupt and defeat their entire security goal. Based on the findings of this work, it becomes evident that since West African states are deficient in this regard, their national security also been prone to such deficits.


Connections Between Jihadist Groups and Smuggling and Illegal Trafficking Rings in the Sahel

Connections Between Jihadist Groups and Smuggling and Illegal Trafficking Rings in the Sahel

Author: Serigne Bamba Gaye

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 28

ISBN-13: 9782490093083

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"For a number of years, the Sahel has been faced with a series of threats, the most emblematic of which are Islamist terrorism, illegal trafficking and organized crime. These threats have contributed to the destabilization of the region and accentuated the weakness of certain States. This situation aggravates the climate of insecurity and further accentuates the risks of instability, which hardly promotes the socio-economic development of Sahelian countries. In this environment, Jihadist groups and organized crime networks flourish. These networks develop with the complicity or participation of local actors, who profit from illicit traffics in these areas where State presence is limited and States have difficulty controlling their own borders ... Through a multidisciplinary approach taking account of socio-political and economic aspects, this study seeks to clarify the nature of the relationships between organized crime and terrorism and to analyse the impact of their activities on States and local communities in a context of major political and social upheaval in the Sahel"--Back cover.


Intimate Crimes

Intimate Crimes

Author: Rolando Ochoa

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2019-10-03

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 0192519425

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Mexico has one of the highest kidnapping rates in the world. Intimate Crimes outlines the history of kidnapping in Mexico City by constructing a narrative of this crime based on extensive qualitative research on gangs, policing and other crime-related policies. The book also analyses the effect of kidnapping - and crime more broadly - on how communities experience the city, as well as the strategies put in place by potential kidnapping victims to deal with the threat of being victimised by someone close to them, a common occurrence in Mexico City, including analysing the processes through which household employees are screened and selected in Mexican households. The book presents the results of over a year of fieldwork in Mexico, and creates a qualitative database of news reports for the material used in its writing. It includes material from over 70 interviews with kidnapping victims, their families, potential victims and their employees, police, prosecutors, government agents, journalists and other informants. Intimate Crimes contributes to existing criminological literature on Mexico and Latin America by making an important contribution to a subject of the outmost regional importance. The book also contributes to broader criminological topics on the rule of law, criminal gangs, policing and the impact of economic development on crime. It also builds on the existing literature on empirical work on trust and signalling, particularly as it relates to contexts of weak rule of law and low state protection.


Criminals, Militias, and Insurgents

Criminals, Militias, and Insurgents

Author: Phil Williams

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13:

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The author identifies the roots of organized crime in Ba'athist Iraq and reports on major criminal activities including the theft, diversion, and smuggling of oil, the kidnapping of both Iraqis and foreigners, extortion, car theft, and the theft and smuggling of antiquities. The author also reports on how al-Qaeda in Iraq, Jaish-al-Mahdi, and the Sunni tribes used criminal activities to fund their campaigns of political violence.


The Economics of Organised Crime

The Economics of Organised Crime

Author: Gianluca Fiorentini

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1997-08-14

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780521629553

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The first book to apply economic theory to the analysis of all aspects of organised crime.


Transatlantic Security from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa

Transatlantic Security from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa

Author: Riccardo Alcaro

Publisher: Edizioni Nuova Cultura

Published: 2014-05-21

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 8868122731

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As the so-called Arab Spring has slid into political uncertainty, lingering insecurity and civil conflict, European and American initial enthusiasm for anti-authoritarian protests has given way to growing concerns that revolutionary turmoil in North Africa may in fact have exposed the West to new risks. Critical in cementing this conviction has been the realisation that developments originated from Arab Mediterranean countries and spread to the Sahel have now such a potential to affect Western security and interests as to warrant even military intervention, as France’s operation in Mali attests. EU and US involvement in fighting piracy off the Horn of Africa had already laid bare the nexus between their security interests and protracted crises in sub-Saharan Africa. But the new centrality acquired by the Sahel after the Arab uprisings – particularly after Libya’s civil war – has elevated this nexus to a new, larger dimension. The centre of gravity of Europe’s security may be swinging to Africa, encompassing a wide portion of the continental landmass extending south of Mediterranean coastal states. The recrudescence of the terrorist threat from Mali to Algeria might pave the way to an American pivot to Africa, thus requiring fresh thinking on how the European Union and the United States can better collaborate with each other and with relevant regional actors.


World Development Report 2011

World Development Report 2011

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2011-05-01

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0821384406

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The 2011 WDR on Conflict, Security and Development underlines the devastating impact of persistent conflict on a country or region's development prospects - noting that the 1.5 billion people living in conflict-affected areas are twice as likely to be in poverty. Its goal is to contribute concrete, practical suggestions on conflict and fragility.


The Routledge Handbook of Justice and Home Affairs Research

The Routledge Handbook of Justice and Home Affairs Research

Author: Ariadna Ripoll Servent

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-22

Total Pages: 921

ISBN-13: 1317292561

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Justice and Home Affairs is one of the fastest expanding areas of research in European Studies. The European response to security concerns such as terrorism, organised crime networks, and drug trafficking as well as to the challenge of managing migration flows are salient topics of interest to an increasing number of scholars of all disciplines, the media and general public. This handbook takes stock of policy development and academic research in relation to justice and home affairs and analyses the field in an unprecedented thematic depth. The book comprehensively investigates the field from the perspective of the three dimensions central to European integration: the sectoral (policies), the horizontal (states, regions) and the vertical (institutions, decision-making) dimensions. It also discusses the most important theoretical approaches used in this research area and provides the reader with a state of the art picture of the field. By adopting such a comprehensive and broad-based approach, the handbook is uniquely positioned to be an important referent for scholars, practitioners and students interested in the area of justice, home affairs and European politics.


Peace Operations and Organized Crime

Peace Operations and Organized Crime

Author: James Cockayne

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2011-05-10

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1136643117

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Peace operations are increasingly on the front line in the international community’s fight against organized crime; this book explores how, in some cases, peace operations and organized crime are clear enemies, while in others, they may become tacit allies. The threat posed by organized crime to international and human security has become a matter of considerable strategic concern for national and international decision-makers, so it is somewhat surprising how little thought has been devoted to addressing the complex relationship between organized crime and peace operations. This volume addresses this gap, questioning the emerging orthodoxy that portrays organized crime as an external threat to the liberal peace championed by western and allied states and delivered through peace operations. Based upon a series of case studies it concludes that organized crime is both a potential enemy and a potential ally of peace operations, and it argues for the need to distinguish between strategies to contain organized crime and strategies to transform the political economies in which it flourishes. The editors argue for the development of intelligent, transnational, and transitional law enforcement that can make the most of organized crime as a potential ally for transforming political economies, while at the same time containing the threat it presents as an enemy to building effective and responsible states. The book will be of great interest to students of peacebuilding, peace and conflict studies, organised crime, Security Studies and IR in general.


Global Study on Homicide 2013

Global Study on Homicide 2013

Author: United Nations

Publisher: UN

Published: 2014-06-15

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 9789211482720

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The Global Study on Homicide 2013 is based on comprehensive data from more than 200 countries/territories, and examines and analyses patterns and trends in homicide at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels. Such analysis is fundamental to understanding the various factors and dynamics that drive homicide, so that measures can be developed to reduce violent crime. The Study provides a typology of homicide, including homicide related to crime, coexistence-related homicide, and socio-political homicide. The nature of crime in several countries emerging from conflict, the role of various mechanisms in killing, and the response of the criminal justice system to homicide are also analyzed. A further chapter examines homicide at the sub-national level, and includes analysis at the city-level for selected global cities.