Transnational Organized Crime

Margaret E. Beare, MargaretE. Beare

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351538473
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Droit
• Subtopic: Droit pénal

This selection of influential articles traces our evolving understanding of transnational organized crime - paradigm shifts - from the 'alien conspiracy' focused research to the more nuanced focused scholarship on 'markets' and 'networks', culminating in a focus on 'enablers' of transnational crimes and evaluations of 'harm' from transnational crimes. The selected essays and articles reflect the way in which politics, economics and social factors have impacted on scholarly thinking and the introduction also highlights the many authors and professionals who have been influential in this field. This volume is an essentialone-stop resource for lecturers and students interested in all aspects of transnational organized crime.

Part I
Introduction

[1]

The Interdisciplinary Dimensions of the Study of Organized Crime¹

Klaus von Lampe

This essay and review systematically charts the various influences from other areas of scientific research, including economy, psychology, and neurobiology, on the study of organized crime. Drawing on an analysis of American and international literature, metaphorical, and substantive references to other disciplines are highlighted on five levels of observation: the individual “organized criminal,” the activities these individuals arc involved in, the associational patterns through which they are connected, the power structures that subordinate these individuals and collectives to common or particular interests, and the relations between these individuals, structures and activities on the one hand, and the legal spheres of society on the other. It is argued that a research program aiming at building up a cumulative body of knowledge is needed to overcome the shortcomings of the current eclectic use of concepts and theories from other disciplines.

Over the past 30 years the study of organized crime has developed into a separate sub-discipline with its own textbooks, journals, and professional associations. Although the core subject is crime it has never been a uniquely criminological or even uniquely sociological endeavor. Given the broad scope of the concept of organized crime which according to varying interpretations encompasses such diverse phenomena as illegal markets, quasi-governmental criminal structures, corporate crime and state crime, the study of organized crime has attracted scholars with academic backgrounds other than criminology and sociology, including anthropology, economics, history, law, and political science. Correspondingly, students of organized crime have borrowed concepts and theories from a variety of academic disciplines. However, the multidisciplinary dimension has not necessarily ensured a high level of theoretical penetration of the objects of study. Despite recent advances, the theoretical literature on organized crime remains fairly thin and fragmented. In fact, one might even go so far as to say that “organized crime theory,” to the extent it exists at all, is largely an eclectic patchwork and that the various references to other disciplines have added to the confusion that already existed on the conceptual level rather than to clear the fog (Reuter, 1994). This is not to say that the interdisciplinary dimensions of the study of organized crime are necessarily a liability rather than an asset. On the contrary, it may prove fruitful to piece the conceptual and theoretical fragments together, provided it is done systematically and with careful attention being paid to the empirical evidence.

The ambition behind this paper is modest. The aim is not to pick up the loose ends and to integrate them into an overall theoretical framework, as this would be beyond the limited scope of a journal article, but merely to chart in a schematic order the various links to other disciplines outside criminology and sociology as a first step towards a more systematic use of these interdisciplinary influences. For this purpose a wide range of American and international literature on organized crime has been reviewed. An attempt has also been made to identify current trends in order to determine by what areas of research the study of organized crime might be influenced in the future.

The Study of Organized Crime and Other Disciplines

While the focus of this paper is on how the study of organized crime is influenced by other scientific disciplines it should not be overlooked that the relation is not strictly unidirectional.

There are essentially four types of links between the study of organized crime and other areas of scientific research when one looks, on the one hand, at the direction of influence and, on the other, at the perceived relation between the respective objects of study, more specifically, whether the relation is seen to be of a more or less metaphorical nature or whether an empirical overlap of the phenomena under investigation is believed to exist.

References to Organized Crime in Other Disciplines

In some cases, the study of organized crime has enriched other areas of research. This is most significant where organized crime has been addressed within a broader or partially overlapping context, with organized crime being regarded as an empirical facet of, or a basic condition for the phenomena under investigation. In these cases, organized crime is not the focal point of interest.

One example is provided by the classic research literature on juvenile delinquency, including Thrasher’s “The Gang” (1927), Whyte’s “Street Corner Society” (1943), and Cloward and Ohlin’s “Delinquency and Opportunity” (1960), which pays considerable attention to organized crime phenomena. Thrasher, for example, treats organized crime, personified by the adult gang, as an outgrowth of the overall gang phenomenon, while Whyte and Cloward and Ohlm view organized crime more in terms of a systemic condition which has some bearing on the social position and patterns of activity of juvenile gangs.

Similar references can be found in the literature on politics, economy, and culture wherever organized crime appears as an integral and formative part of the fabric of society, as is the case namely in the United States (e.g., Lerner, 1957), Italy (e.g., Barzini, 1964), and in post-Soviet societies of transition (e.g., Salter, 2003). An interesting variation of this kind of literature is presented by political writings from the Third Reich and the Soviet era that pounce on the issue of organized crime in an effort to expose the perceived weaknesses and contradictions of the system of Western democracy (Halter, 1942; Polkehn and Szeponik, 1985).

More specifically, in the case of the United States, the literature on American politics (Brogan, 1960), particularly city politics (Banfield and Wilson, 1963), immigration (Gambino, 1974) and the labor movement (Kimeldorf, 1992) would be incomplete without addressing the issue of organized crime. However, and this is true even for more recent literature, the study of organized crime is not widely recognized as a source of knowledge. Howard Kimeldorf’s history of longshore unionism, for example, draws extensively on the literature on the labor movement but despite the catchy title, Reds or Rackets?, it practically ignores the contributions from the study of organized crime which had already been available when this book was first published (e.g., Block, 1983; Block and Chambliss, 1982; Reuter, 1987).²

An example for the recognition of the organized crime literature, in the form of Arlacchi’s analysis of the mafia phenomenon (Arlacchi, 1986), is a treatise on economic organization by German political philosopher Axel Honnelh (1994). He discusses Japanese corporations and the Southern Italian Mafia as two manifestations of clannish forms of enterprise in modern societies.

It is more difficult to find an example where the study of organized crime has enriched other areas of research through metaphoric reference or, more elaborately speaking, through analogy. What can be found are references to Mafia or the use of other organized crime related metaphors without drawing upon the scholarly literature on organized crime. Biologist Richard Dawkins, for instance, in his book The Selfish Gene is drawing an analogy between genes and “successful Chicago gangsters” (Dawkins, 1989: 2).³

References to Other Disciplines in the Study of Organized Crime

In general, it seems that the study of organized crime has profited more from other areas of research than the other way round. In these cases, concepts and theories have been adopted either on the assumption that organized crime is a facet of a larger phenomenon under investigation in other disciplines, or on the assumption that sufficient similarities exist between organized crime and the objects of study of other disciplines in order to permit the drawing of analogies.

One type of interdisciplinary link for the benefit of the study of organized crime is established when organized crime is viewed through the lens of, or rather within the paradigms of, another discipline. A good example is the economic analysis of organized crime, which rests on the assumption that organized criminal activity is market-based and that organized criminal structures are entrepreneurial structures. It is interesting to note that beyond a simple transfer of economics to the analysis of organized crime, the consideration of the specifics of illegality has led to the development of what may be regarded as a separate branch of economic research, which is connected with names like Thomas C. Schelling and Peter Reuter.

Finally, findings and insights from other disciplines are introduced to the study of organized crime via analogies. In these cases, perceived similarities between organized crime and other social phenomena serve as a justification to borrow concepts and propositions from at first glance unrelated areas of research. A good example is provided by Letizia Paoli’s treatise on Southern Italian Mafia associations in which she uses several metaphors and analogies for purposes of clarification and argumentation. For instanee, Paoli draws upon anthropological literature like Sahlins’ “Stone Age Economy” (1972) based on the assumption that there are analogies between Mafia associations and primitive societies (Paoli, 2003a: 86). Another case in point is her reference to historical literature on oceanic commerce in the sixteenth century to illustrate her argument that Mafia associations cannot be classified as exclusively governmental or business enterprise (Paoli, 2003a: 172).

Points of Entry for Interdisciplinary Influences

When one talks about organized crime and how it can be better understood through the use of concepts and theories from other disciplines, it must be emphasized that organized crime as such is not the object of study. Organized crime does not exist as a clearly discernable, coherent empirical phenomenon. Instead, it is first of all a construct. A myriad of aspects of the social universe are lumped together in varying combinations within different frames of reference depending on the respective point of view of each observer (von Lampe, 2003a: 9). Before this background it is problematic to draw on criminological theories to try to expiant organized crime without specifying and systematically differentiating the various reference points within the broad picture of organizad erime (Kelly, 1987; Kenney and Finckenauer, 1995; Lyman and Potter, 1997).

In describing the object of study, one should speak about a number of different empirical phenomena that are examined in a rather loose conceptual context. These phenomena include certain individuals, the activities these individuals are involved in, the associational patterns through which they are connected, the power structur...