Book Review: Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups

• DOI: 10.1177/1057567701299316
• Published date: 01 March 2007
• Author: J. Peter Pham
• Date: 01 March 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

influence of drug cartels in Columbia is remote and that U.S. policy aimed at reducing coca pro-

duction will have marginal impacts on drug supply.

The remaining chapters follow the same theme. Perhaps the most insightful of these chapters are

the chilling analyses of the Nigerian “kleptocracy” by Obi N. I. Ebbe and “Mexico’s Legacy of

Corruption” by Stanley Pimentel. In the Nigerian case, Ebbe reveals the depths to which PCN struc-

tures have become embedded within society, politics, and business. He makes a clear and powerful

point: Nigeria is no longer a state with criminal networks; it has devolved into a criminal state.

Despite efforts to improve conditions, Ebbe suggests, prospects for change are slim because of the

absence of state infrastructure and because of pervasive penetration of criminal enterprises at all lev-

els of society. To a lesser degree, similar problems are revealed by Pimentel in his analysis of PCN

structures in Mexico. His chapter provides a discussion of the stage-evolutionary and elite-exploita-

tive models of political–criminal relationships developed by Peter A. Lupsha (1996). Pimentel points

out that “presidentialism”—the concentration of power in the office of the president with the judi-

ciary and legislative branches of government serving as a rubber stamp for presidential authority—

has dominated politics in Mexico. In the absence of meaningful checks and balances, presidents

have historically represented corrupt political party interests that control state authority and support

deeply entrenched PCN structures that support the power elite. As Pimentel notes, “Nothing happens

in Mexico that is not known by ‘protectors’” (p. 187), that is, by the political elites. He argues that

the elite-exploitative model best explains the Mexican variation in the PCN. In his view, these cir-

cumstances will be changed only with drastic political, judicial, law enforcement, and societal

changes. These changes will be difficult and painful for everyone, especially for those in power.

The case studies presented in Menace to Society are good sources for those interested in cross-

cultural studies of organized crime, the PCN, or border studies. The examination of state character-

istics associated with development of a PCN may also be relevant to those interested in avoidable

harms by transnational corporations. The political, economic, and social conditions seen in weak

states that develop influential PCN structures are similar to those associated with states that have

experienced avoidable harms perpetrated by global corporations. If a second edition is published, a

synthesis chapter at the end of the book would be an important addition. It could draw out theoreti-

cally relevant features across case studies and articulate a more fully developed theory of the PCN

phenomenon. This book is well worth reading and having on your bookshelf.

Michael J. Gilbert

University of Texas at San Antonio

Reference

Lupsha, P. A. (1996). Transnational organized crime versus the nation-state. Transnational Organized Crime,

2(1), 21-48.

Atkins, S. E. (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups.

Westport, CT: Greenwood.

DOI: 10.1177/1057567701299316

In his introduction to Diderot’s Encyclopédie, Jean le Rond d’Alembert (1759/1965) mused that

“the names of the great benefactors of the human race are almost entirely unknown, whereas the

Book Reviews 53