NGO's with an attitude and bayonets: a consideration of transnational criminal organizations.

• Author: Becker, John D.
• Position: Non-government organizations

RENSSELER LEE ET AL., TRANSNATIONAL CRIME IN THE AMERICAS: AN INTER-AMERICAN DIALOGUE BOOK, Edited by Tom Farer, Routledge, New York (1999).

JEFFREY ROBINSON, THE MERGER: THE CONGLOMERATION OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME, Overlook Press, New York (2000).

Behind international terrorism, transnational crime presents one of the most significant threats to governments across the globe, and for many of the same reasons. Transnational crime extends beyond borders and in doing so exceeds the legal jurisdictions of sovereign nations. Transnational criminal organizations make use of advanced technologies, including communications, computer networks, and all available modes of transportation, in a manner analogous to multinational corporations. They have access to and utilize a wide variety of weapons and weapon technologies in the pursuit of illegal ends. And finally, transnational criminal organizations impact governmental institutions, social organizations, and the economic foundations of our society.

Yet, the threat presented by transnational crime has been little studied or analyzed. Lack of analysis in turn has left policy makers with few options for establishing effective responses to the problem. The need for careful analysis of concrete situations and available financial, human, and institutional resources is readily apparent.

Transnational Crime in the Americas, edited by Tom Farer, seeks to fill that void, at least in regards to the Americas. Organized into ten chapters and a conclusion, this regionally-focused text starts by looking generally at the organized crime phenomena: its incident, functions, severity, and morphology. Next, consideration is given to its relative importance among candidates for inclusion on the national security agenda, as well as dissecting its connection to the offshore economy, and a comparison of U.S. and European perceptions and responses to the problem of transnational crime. Finally, detailed case studies are used to clarify the phenomena itself, its relationship to the politics and economies of various states, and the effects of implementing possible anticrime strategies. The policy implications of all of this data, specifically how measures short of war might apply here, are sorted out in Farer's conclusion. (2)

Rensseler Lee's opening chapter, titled Transnational Organized Crime: An Overview, is a concise introduction to the topic. Lee sees organized crime as being defined by three characteristics: 1) continuity of operations, 2) practice of corruption, and 3) a capability to inflict violence. (3) He also recognizes that the post-Cold War environment has promoted organized crime, particularly in fractured states with weak central governments, like in parts of Latin America and Asia. Within the context of a changed world, transnational criminal organizations represent difficult targets for law enforcement agencies.

Lee notes that the U.S. response to this challenge has been to focus on the more identifiable and comfortable target--narcotics production and illicit sales. Counterorganization and military interventions have become the preferred means to hit and destroy this target. But the problem is that drugs don't equate to transnational organized crime per se. There is much more out there that nation-states have to deal with--money laundering, gambling, prostitution, and other traditional crimes--plus new threats to government institutions, like illegitimate political actions, smuggling and sales of weapons of mass destruction, and legal-illegal economic endeavors. (4)

By focusing on drug intervention, the United States is missing the mark on transnational crime. In turn, it is being wasteful of limited resources and unproductive in overall strategy. Lee suggests a reappraisal of U.S. drug policy, weighing the potential costs, benefits, and trade-offs of different counternarcotics policies and different regulatory schemes. Doing so could result in a better anticrime effort and free up resources for the targeting of transnational criminal organizations. (5)

The next three articles deal with some of the economic concerns involved with transnational crime. Gregory Treverton's piece, International Organized Crime, National Security, and the Market State, considers how much the international system has changed since the end of the Cold War, as well as how much America has changed. The biggest change, he argues, is the emergence of the market state. (6) By that, Treverton is referring to a more economically-oriented, less Westphalia-like state.

In a market state world, international organizations are devalued, law is devalued, and dramatic changes occur in private (versus public) responsibilities. Additionally, national security concerns shift to consider both old threats--like rogue states and terrorism--and new threats. New threats are termed "threats without threateners" and include such things as global warming and transnational organized crime. Threats without threateners can destabilize friendly governments, risk wider spread violence, affect the economic well-being of citizens, or sharply offend cherished values. As a result, Treverton thinks that international organized crime will challenge U.S. institutions and conceptions of governance. (7)

Jack Blum's article, Offshore Money, argues that international organized crime and large-scale narcotics trafficking depend upon the money laundering and banking...