Academic literature on the topic 'Organized crime – Mediterranean Region'

In the post-Cold War era, new challenges emerged that have threatened regional and global security. Before the turn of the 21st century, the world was primarily dominated by states, but now, non-state actors are of critical importance in national and international security in today's globalizing and multipolar world. Of these non-state actors, transnational organized crime networks and groups have become a key security threat in the national, regional, and global environment. Transnational organized crime groups threaten to destabilize basic societal, economic, and political institutions and values. While all nations face the threat of transnational organized crime groups, those post-war and post-conflict nations in transition are especially fragile to the effects that transnational organized crime groups can have on a nation's government, economy, and society. The Balkan region has all been plagued by conflict and instability since the civil wars of the 1990s. Today, the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean region has reemerged with strategic importance as the instability of nations in these regions are particularly susceptible to external malign influence by state and non-state actors. Concerns regarding the rise of transnational organized crime and its relationship with religious extremist groups have caused the international community to refocus on the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean regions. Increasingly, transnational organized crime groups along with international terrorist groups are beginning to share organizational and operational features. Additionally, when it becomes advantageous, these groups will partner with each other. Transnational organized crime networks and groups have grown in both size and sophistication, and many major groups behave and assume the structure of secret organizations. Powerful transnational organized crime groups have developed in accordance with the structures of their host countries, which is why it is these groups flourish in those countries with more fragile political institutions. The ways in which transnational organized crime groups think and operate have made them successful. These groups take their illicit business ventures seriously, and understanding what these groups do, how they operate, and who they work with is critical in defeating them. By examining effective counterintelligence methods, this paper will focus on the strategic importance of transnational organized crime in the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean region, with a particular focus on Albania.

Legal systems are put in jeopardy and social stability and welfare are harmed wherever there are organized criminal activities. In the Balkans, organized crime is also tantamount to a main obstacle to the European integration of the region. The permanent influence of organized crime on the state structures, the cooperation between different criminal organizations and especially their collaboration with some extremist groups impact political stability in an extremely negative way. The states in the Balkans have recognized the dangers for their peoples constituted by organized crime and have already taken a number of required legal, institutional and political measures in order to be able to successfully combat organized crime. However, organized crime still constitutes the main risk to the new democratic states in the Balkans in spite of these measures. For that reason, combating organized crime may not treated just as the task or responsibility of one single state but it needs to be understood as an obligation and responsibility of all the states in the entire region as well as of the European Union. Therefore, cooperation and coordination of joint activities for combating organized crime have to be based on modern international standards. Besides, a continual perspective is required according to the interest of the peoples of the region to live together in peace and mutual harmony and to establish a society where human rights are not threatened by criminal violence but protected just like in the European Union.

Organized crime is one of the most serious security threats that may face any country in the world, due to its global effects that transcend the states’ borders, hence the main research question of this paper is “to what extent is the spread of organized crime in the Central Asian region reflected on the security and stability of the Arab region?”, So the paper clarified the definition of organized crime, with an explanation of the nature of organized crime In more detail in both Central Asia and the Arab region, supported by the findings of the Global Organized Crime Index issued in 2021. The paper concluded that there is a significant impact of the spread of organized crime in the Central Asian region on the Arab region; As drugs and weapons move from the Central Asian countries to the Arab countries through Iran, organized criminal groups also have a role in the crimes of human trafficking and illegal immigration from affected Arab areas by civil wars and terrorism to Europe. In this context, the paper puts forward two main policy alternatives for the Arab decision-makers, namely strengthening the steadfastness of countries, and adopting unconventional methods to reach the best results in confronting organized crime. Finally, the paper laid out a set of recommendations to enhance information exchange between the Arab countries, enhance regional cooperation in the technological field, as well as undertake local initiatives that include all segments of society in the process of confronting organized crime.

Afghanistan has been demolished by more than three decades of the ongoing war since the war against the Soviet Union started in 1979. The Afghanistan-Pakistan region provides a geographically secure location and a space of opportunity for organized crime and terrorist groups. This paper aims at exploring the Taliban nexus with organized crime groups in Afghanistan and the region through Makarenko’s crime-terror continuum theory. The method of this study is qualitative through the descriptive-analytical approach. The growing connection between insurgents and organized crime poses essential challenges to the region. Each group has developed both criminal and terrorist elements while not relinquishing its original organizing principle. Afghanistan is a war-torn country and weak governance, terrorism, narcotics, illegal mining, poor border control, and widespread corruption provide the perfect opportunity for convergence of the Taliban with organized criminal and insurgent groups in the region. The Taliban and organized crime groups are involved in kidnapping for ransom, drug trade, extortion, and exploitation of natural resources. The finding indicates that, although the objectives of the insurgent and organized crime organizations differ widely, these enabling variables are also suitable for organized crime organizations. The primary objective of organized crime is to gain profit, and the objective of the insurgent is to contest the state power and promote political change through violence. The economic sources are the primary main reason why the two organizations converge.

This article analyses offences dealing with the incrimination of organized crime under international and domestic laws in the Asia Pacific region and develops recommendations to improve existing and proposed provisions. The article frames the arguments for and against offences such as “participation in an organized crime group”, “gangsterism”, or “racketeering”, and critically examines the rationale, elements, and application of existing and proposed organized crime offences in the Asia Pacific.

Organized crime, along with terrorism, drugs, corruption and cyber-crime remain among the most significant threats to security and co-operation in the osce region. What has been achieved over these years and what else still needs to be done to ensure that organized crime does not hinder sustainable economic and social development in the area from Vancouver to Vladivostok?To effectively defend the human rights of 1.2 billion people living in the region, the osce has to review its anti-crime toolbox from time to time, to strengthen its co-operation with other interested partners and to develop new mechanisms of co-operation among its 57 participating States. This article will focus on the ongoing efforts by the osce to combat organized crime through police co-operation.

The main objective of the article is to show that the temporary symbiosis between centres of political power and organized crime leads to the development of permanent, corrupt and opaque networks. Focusing on the countries of the Western Balkans, the author points to the reasons for the development of organized crime in the region and then to the conditions created in the post-conflict period that resulted in the failure of effective attempts to stop organized crime and the corruption that facilitates it in the these countries. The article also points out that the creation of symbiotic relationships between political elites and organized crime groups leads to a ‘state capture.’ The unresolved problems of corruption and organized crime, in turn, have a direct impact on these countries’ EU-integration processes.

All kinds of illegal trafficking, prostitution, pornography, gambling, fraud and counterfeiting, computer crime, corruption, piracy, illegal immigration and many other criminal activities can pose a threat to national and even international security if conducted by larger criminal groups or organizations. The phenomenon of organized crime has acquired a transnational character due to the increasing globalization of financial markets and communications as well as technological development. The three countries of East Central Europe – The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland – can be of interest in terms of organized crime as recent political and economic developments in these countries have made them attractive to such criminal activities. Another problematic region in terms of organized criminal activities is the region of Central Asia which includes several countries of the former Soviet Union – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Southeast Asia has a geographical position that is very vulnerable to various forms of transnational crime. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations/ASEAN as a regional organization for countries in Southeast Asia has a role and responsibility to carry out the prevention and eradication of transnational organized crime in Southeast Asia. This paper aims to analyze the factors causing the occurrence of transnational organized crime in Southeast Asia, and to analyze the forms of regional cooperation in the prevention and eradication of transnational organized crime in Southeast Asia. This paper uses a normative research type, with a statutory and interpretation approach. The legal materials used are sourced from books, research reports, journals, and international legal instruments. The collected legal materials are then analyzed qualitatively. The results show that there are three main factors that cause transnational organized crime in Southeast Asia, the three factors are economic globalization, increasing heterogeneity of immigrants, and rapidly developing communication technology. ASEAN has an important role in actively participating in campaigning for the war against transnational organized crime, especially in the Southeast Asia region. Transnational crime was first discussed by ASEAN in 1997 which later gave birth to the ASEAN Declaration on Transnational Crime Manila, Philippines, 20 December 1997. In addition to encouraging its members to ratify the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, 2000 and the promulgation of a number of regional instruments, regional cooperation is also the main key for ASEAN and its member countries in the prevention and eradication of transnational organized crime in Southeast Asia.

The Northern Triangle area made up by El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras faces a growing gang phenomenon responsible for the growth of violence and instability in the region. Many factors have contributed to the rise of gangs in the region, however, I argue that the deportation of Central American immigrants who became active gang members in the United States play a significant role in the growth of gangs. I analyze the impact of the lack of collaboration between the United States and the nations of the Northern Triangle, especially in the lack of reintegration programs and the other factors that could have influenced or spurred the escalation of gang activity such as a failed recovery process following the civil wars of the 1970s and 1980s and the state repression policies. Furthermore, I assess how the lack of collaboration between the United States and Northern Triangle region in the deportation of criminal immigrants has impacted the transnationalization of the two largest Central American gangs, Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18. Due to the lack of quantitative data on gang size and membership, I conduct my analysis utilizing various studies that have been conducted in the three nations and data regarding homicide and deportation rates. Ultimately, I find that while the U.S. deportees played an important role in altering the characteristics and nature of Central American gangs, a variety of other factors were significant in their growth. Additionally, I find their assignation as Transnational Criminal Organizations premature and inconclusive due to their weak organizational and communication structure. Finally, I question whether gangs are truly the cause of high levels of violence in each of the nations of the Northern Triangle, determining that the Central American gang phenomenon cannot be assessed or treated as a singular issue. Instead, it is imperative to acknowledge the conditions at play in each country.

Defence date: 22 May 1998
Examining board: Prof. Percy Allum (Istituto Universitario Orientale di Napoli) ; Prof. Bernard Morel (Université de Lyon) ; Prof. Alessandro Pizzorno (supervisor) ; Prof. Gianfranco Poggi (EUI)(co-supervisor)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017
Oggetto di questa originale ricerca storica sono due tra i più noti e più studiati sistemi malavitosi: la camorra napoletana e il milieu marsigliese. Nelle due grandi città mediterranee le organizzazioni criminali sembrano avere stabilmente assunto un ruolo che va al di là della gestione di singole attività illegali, sia pur importanti e ramificate. Gli interi contesti urbani di Napoli e Marsiglia ne sono stati caratterizzati, al punto da rimanere marchiati da una persistente «mauvaise réputation» ed essere considerati in se stessi «criminogeni». In realtà, in entrambi i casi, i sistemi criminali, esaminati da vicino e nel corso della loro lunga parabola otto-novecentesca, si presentano assai mobili, occupano ruoli cangianti, mostrano un'attitudine all'adattamento che conosce come unica costante proprio la loro capacità di autoriproduzione. Le «élites criminali» di Napoli e Marsiglia passano da una fase che si può definire «archeologica» e che corrisponde agli esordi ottocenteschi, attraverso i grandi cambiamenti di fine Ottocento e poi del nostro secolo, fino a un ampliamento dei mercati illeciti e dei sistemi clientelari che raggiunge l'apice nei tempi a noi più vicini. Il punto decisivo è rappresentato dai legami che queste élites illegali riescono di volta in volta a intrecciare con la società, con il contesto «legale» nel quale, spesso agevolmente, si muovono. L'approccio comparato consente di mettere in rilievo analogie e differenze, fasi e tempi, modi e articolazioni delle iniziative criminali, punti di forza e di debolezza, reti clandestine e modi di «emersione». La conclusione è sorprendente: le organizzazioni criminali non hanno in sé la capacità di crescere e di misurare la propria potenza; sono le istituzioni legali, quelle dell'ordine pubblico e quelle preposte alla formazione della pubblica opinione, a conferire con la loro stessa azione una capacità di «accredito » ai gruppi criminali che operano nelle due città.

Bibliography: leaves 510-533.
xx, 533 leaves : ill., map ; 30 cm.
"This study provides a comprehensive analysis of migrant trafficking in its different aspects and dimensions. It examines the nature, characteristics and magnitude, the causes, conditions and consequences of migrant trafficking, and the inadequacies of existing policies and legislation. It compiles, reviews and analyses existing and proposed legislation at national, regional and international levels. It forwards a set of specific proposals that can be woven into a coherent and comprehensive strategy to prevent and combat illegal migration and organised crime in Australia and the Asia Pacific region more effectively in the 21st century."
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Law, 2002

Bibliography: leaves 510-533.
xx, 533 leaves : ill., map ; 30 cm.
Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library.
"This study provides a comprehensive analysis of migrant trafficking in its different aspects and dimensions. It examines the nature, characteristics and magnitude, the causes, conditions and consequences of migrant trafficking, and the inadequacies of existing policies and legislation. It compiles, reviews and analyses existing and proposed legislation at national, regional and international levels. It forwards a set of specific proposals that can be woven into a coherent and comprehensive strategy to prevent and combat illegal migration and organised crime in Australia and the Asia Pacific region more effectively in the 21st century."
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Law, 2002

This chapter aims to investigate advance and relevance of remote sensing in detecting the increasing transnational terrorist and crimes acts. This work should take into the widest definition of transnational crimes and terrorist activities and the link between. Geopolitics has created a favor climate for the setting of transnational crimes and terrorism at the Tunisian-Libyan borders. A possible future scenario is the fall of a military base with high technology arms in the hand of terrorist groups. Remote would be relevant by monitoring of terrorist mobility and their number evolution, arms quality and quantity within the base and the region, linked illegal activities funding terrorist groups (human trafficking from Africa to Europe, arms trade towards Mali, and smuggling).

This chapter examines the role of river transportation in Ottoman state-building in Iraq. From the sixteenth century, the Ottoman state organized a steady supply of grains and arms to be shipped from Aleppo, Diyarbakır, and Mosul to the downstream fortresses of Baghdad and Basra. The Ottoman state, as a result, could deploy in Iraq sizable garrisons capable of stabilizing its authority in a volatile frontier region. In addition, Istanbul improved the communication infrastructure of the drainage basin by investing in seaports, docks, rafts, and bridges, which smoothed the movement of men and provisions between the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. The janissary and artillery corps deployed from the capital profited greatly from the imperial patronage of provincial religious foundations and their cadre, which buttressed the legitimacy of Ottoman hard power in the region.

The chapter supports the aspect that a planning procedure is developed in Athens (Greece) the last years, aiming to undertake the role of a semi-regional node in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. This node is needed for the integration of the globalization western system. ?he organization of the Olympic Games of 2004 was the initiative for the construction of the needed infrastructures and main urban works in the city. Legal measures regarding the administrative and labour issues were undertaken during the previous four years in conjunction with the acquisition of the needed urban land in the coastal area of the Athens plain, where a new CBD is under implementation. These developments are the main arguments for supporting the aspect that Athens is now re-organized and upgraded with new urban equipment, which will facilitate the settling of the headquarters of various multinational organizations and other private enterprises in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

The chapter supports the aspect that a planning procedure is developed in Athens (Greece) the last years, aiming to undertake the role of a semi-regional node in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. This node is needed for the integration of the globalization western system. Τhe organization of the Olympic Games of 2004 was the initiative for the construction of the needed infrastructures and main urban works in the city. Legal measures regarding the administrative and labour issues were undertaken during the previous four years in conjunction with the acquisition of the needed urban land in the coastal area of the Athens plain, where a new CBD is under implementation. These developments are the main arguments for supporting the aspect that Athens is now re-organized and upgraded with new urban equipment, which will facilitate the settling of the headquarters of various multinational organizations and other private enterprises in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Abstract In the 1960s, state governments turned to lotteries because they were desperate for new sources of revenue. After years of adding new services, states needed to increase taxes, but residents were reluctant to pay for the services to which they had become accustomed. Enter lotteries. This chapter explores the first wave of lottery legalization through the passage of the 1969 New Jersey lottery referendum. For white suburbanites, the lottery appeared to be a panacea. They reasoned that poor African Americans already spent money on illegal numbers games, which fed into the coffers of organized crime, so the state may as well legalize gambling to take a cut of the profit. Though it did not meet expectations, New Jersey’s was the first successful state lottery, and its innovative sales tactics inspired the spread of lotteries across the region. With New Jersey as a model, tax-wary voters ushered in the lottery age.

The Castelló’s old castle (Castell Vell), or the paradigm of the anthropic territory’s occupation in La Plana until the thirteenth centuryThe Castell Vell of Castelló (Castelló’s Old Castle) is an andalusian structure located at the top on a hill, placed on northern region of La Plana, in the land of Castellón. It’s organized on three interconnected platforms, as many andalusians castles: alcazaba, albacara and the village itself. With 1,1 hectares surface, it follows the pattern of “castle associated with a rural habitat” according the Bazzana’s classification. Its conservation status advises a series of interventions, the last one dated in 2018. Defensive structures have, in general, a high homogeneity in terms of construction techniques, but different moments and build phases can be identified. Its configuration is not uncommon in the almohad military structures of the Iberian land that can be dated between the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. The presentation at this congress of this heritage piece and the description of the last intervention made is the objective of this study.

Historical and cartographic research about the ghost domus built by Frederick II in Principatus et Terra Beneventana regionDuring his reign Frederick II built a series of representative fortified constructions in southern Italy, and after reinforcing the defence line of the border with the State of the Church, he decided to build many residential estates called domus or palacium in the fundamental medieval textual source of Statutum de reparatione castrorum. This research is focused on the study of the landscape in the ancient region of Principatus et Terra Beneventana during the thirteenth century: it is noticed the presence of five imperial domus cited in the Statutum with the name domus Castellucci Battipallae, castrum et palacium Sarni, domus imperatoris in Ebulo, domus imperatoris Apicii and the Castel Belvedere Marano palace. Every domus was studied through a historical and cartographic analysis, and in case of the structure is not recognised on the territory it was organized a landscape analysis in order to propose a hypothetical position. The data that was gathered into ArcGIS software to define the probable locations of the ghost domus were the detailed routes of ancient roads related to the positions of the casalia (little rural communities that paid taxes to maintenance of the royal structures), the Church properties, the urban site, and the other castra and domus.

If killing a single person is considered as a major crime that forbidden by Sharia and law at the international level and at the level of all religions and divine legislation, so what about the concept of genocide!! Here, not just an individual with a weak influence on society is killed, but thousands of individuals, that means an entire nation, a future, energy and human and intellectual capabilities that can tip the scales, and on the other hand, broken and half-dead hearts are left behind from the horrific scenes of killing they witnessed before their eyes, moreover, the massacres of genocide continues to excrete its remnants and consequences for long years and for successive generations, and it may generate grudges of revenge among generations that did not receive the adequate awareness and psychological support which are necessary to rehabilitate these generations to benefit from the tragedies and bitter experiences of life to turn them into lessons and incentives to achieve progress and advancement. Genocide is a deadly poison whose toxic effect extends from generations to others unless it is wisely controlled. Here the role of the international community and its legal, legislative and humanitarian stance from these crimes is so important and supportive. Genocide can be occurred on two levels: external and internal. As for genocide on the external level: this is what happened at the hands of foreign powers against a certain people for colonial and expansionist goals in favor of the occupier or usurper. There are many examples throughout history, such as the Ottoman and British occupations...etc Whereas genocide at the internal level, can be defined as the repressive actions that governments practice against their own people for goals that could be extremist, racist or dictatorial, such as t ""Al-Anfal"" massacre in 1988 carried out by the previous regime against the Kurds in the Kurdistan region. The number of victims amounted at one hundred thousand martyrs, most of them were innocent and unarmed people from children, women and the elderly, and also the genocide which was practiced against of the organizers of Al-Shaibania Revolution in 1991 was another example of genocide in the internal level. It is possible to deduce a third level between the external and internal levels, which is the genocide that is done at the hands of internal elements from the people of the country, but in implementation of external agendas, for example, the scenes of organized and systematic sectarian killing that we witnessed daily during (2007) and (2008), followed by dozens of bloody explosions in various regions throughout the capital, which unfortunately was practiced by the people of the country who were misguided elements in order to destabilize the security of the country and we did not know until this moment in favor of which external party!! In the three aforementioned cases, nothing can justify the act of killing or genocide, but in my personal opinion, I see that genocide at the hands of foreign forces is less drastic effects than the genocides that done at the hands of internal forces that kill their own people to impose their control and to defense their survival, from the perspective of ""the survival for the strongest, the most criminal and the most dictatorial. The matter which actually dragged the country into the abyss and the ages of darkness and ignorance. As for the foreign occupier, he remains an occupier, and it is so natural for him to be resentful and spiteful and to keep moving with the bragging theory of that (the end justifies the means) and usurping lands illegally, but perhaps recently the occupier has begun to exploit loopholes in international laws and try to gain the support of the international community and international organizations to prove the legitimacy of what has no legitimacy, in the end to achieve goals which pour into the interest of the occupiers' country and from the principle of building the happiness and well-being of the occupiers' people at the expense of the misery and injustice of other peoples!! This remains absolutely dehumanizing societal crime, but at least it has a positive side, which is maximizing economic resources and thus achieving the welfare of a people at the expense of seizing the wealth of the occupied country. This remains the goal of the occupier since the beginning of creation to this day, but today the occupation associated with the horrific and systematic killing has begun to take a new template by framing the ugliness of the crime with humanitarian goals and the worst, to exploit religion to cover their criminal acts. A good example of this is the genocide that took place at the hands of the terrorist organization ISIS, that contradictory organization who adopted the religion which forbids killing and considers it as one of the greatest sins as a means to practice the most heinous types of killing that contemporary history has witnessed!! The ""Spiker"" and ""Sinjar"" massacres in 2014 are the best evidence of this duality in the ideology of this terrorist organization. We may note that the more we advance in time, the more justification for the crimes of murder and genocide increases. For example, we all know the first crimes of genocide represented by the fall of Baghdad at the hands of the Mongol leader ""Hulagu"" in 1258. At that time, the crimes of genocide did not need justification, as they were practiced openly and insolently for subversive, barbaric and criminal goals!! The question here imposes itself: why were the crimes of genocide in the past practiced openly and publicly without need to justify the ugliness of the act? And over time, the crimes of genocide began to be framed by pretexts to legitimize what is prohibited, and to permit what is forbidden!! Or to clothe brutality and barbarism in the patchwork quilt of humanity?? And with this question, crossed my mind the following ""Aya"" from the Glorious Quran (and do not kill the soul that God has forbidden except in the right) , this an explicit ""Aya"" that prohibits killing and permits it only in the right, through the use of the exception tool (except) that permits what coming after it . But the"" right"" that God describes in the glorious Quran has been translated by the human tongues into many forms and faces of falsehood!! Anyway, expect the answer of this controversial question within the results of this study. This study will discuss the axis of (ideologies of various types and genocide), as we will analyze excerpts from the speeches of the former regime that were announced on the local media after each act of genocide or purification, as the former regime described at that time, but the difference in this study is that the analysis will be according to a scientific and thoughtful approach which is far from the personal ideology of the researcher. The analysis will be based on a model proposed by the contemporary Dutch scientist ""Teun A. Van Dijk"". Born in 1943, ""Van Dijk"" is a distinguished scholar and teaching in major international universities. He has authored many approved books as curricula for teaching in the field of linguistics and political discourse analysis. In this study, Van Dijk's Model will be adopted to analyze political discourse ideologies according to forty-one criteria. The analysis process will be conducted in full transparency and credibility in accordance with these criteria without imposing the researcher's personal views. This study aims to shed light on the way of thinking that the dictatorial regimes adopt to impose their existence by force against the will of the people, which can be used to develop peoples' awareness to understand and analyze political statements in a scientific way away from the inherited ideologies imposed by customs, clan traditions, religion, doctrine and nationalism. With accurate scientific diagnosis, we put our hand on the wounds. So we can cure them and also remove the scars of these wounds. This is what we seek in this study, diagnosis and therefore suggesting the suitable treatment "