Mafia state
This article is about systemic corruption of a government by organised crime syndicates. For the 2011 book about Russia, see Mafia State (book).
This article refers to a systematic corruption of a government by major organized crime syndicates. For the greater connotation that literally means "rule by thieves", see Kleptocracy.
The term mafia state is a political buzzword to describe a state system where the government is tied with organized crime, including when government officials, police, and/or military take part in illicit enterprises. The term mafia is a reference to any organized crime groups strongly connected with the authorities.
According to the critics of the mafia state concept, the term "has now been so used and abused in popularized descriptions of organized criminal activity that it has lost much of its analytic value".
Particular applications of the concept[edit]
Cosa Nostra and Yakuza[edit]
In a critical review of Moisés Naím's essay in Foreign Affairs, Peter Andreas pointed to the long existence of Italian mafia and Japanese Yakuza, writing that there were close relationships between those illicit organisations and respective governments. According to Andreas, these examples speak against incidences of mafia states as a historically new threat.
In Italy, the actions of the mafia can continue to affect people's lives today. The Italian "Camorra" Mafia network became powerful in the city of Naples in the 19th Century; although it can trace its origins back to 15th Century Spain and today extending its influence to European countries above Italy as well. The Cosa Nostra and 'Ndrangheta both as well existed in Italy with a confederation of about 150 different groups each with their own organizations and ruling body. Part of the network, known as the "Casalesi clan" became involved in business in the 1970s and 80s, eventually gaining control of large areas of the local economy "partly by manipulating politicians and intimidating judges". Among the contracts the clan gained was for the disposal of toxic waste, however, much of it was dumped illegally. This dumped toxic waste is thought to be cause of a rise in the number suffering from cancer in towns around Naples. The rise was first noticed two decades ago, and has been calculated that there has been a 40 and 47 per cent increase in cancer in women and men respectively. The Italian Senate is currently investigating the causes of the cancers, with illegal dumping thought to be the likely cause.
Countries described as Mafia states[edit]
Republics and territories of the former Yugoslavia[edit]
Kosovo, a partially recognised independent state formerly part of Serbia, was called a "mafia state" by Italian MEP Pino Arlacchi in 2011, and also by Moisés Naím in his 2012 essay "Mafia States" in the Foreign Affairs. Naím pointed out that Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi is allegedly connected to the heroin trade. Many other crime allegations have been made, and investigated by several countries, against Thaçi.[citation needed]
Naím also labeled Montenegro as a "mafia state" in the same essay, describing it as a hub for cigarette smuggling.
Transnistria[edit]
Transnistria, an unrecognised break-away state from Moldova, has long been described by journalists, researchers, politicians and diplomats as a quasistate whose economy is dependent on contraband and gunrunning.
For instance, in 2002, Moldova's president, Vladimir Voronin, called Transnistria a "residence of international mafia", "smuggling stronghold" and "outpost of Islamic combatants". The allegations were followed by attempts of customs blockade. Reacting to the allegations, Russian state-run RTR aired an investigative program revealing that Transnistrian firms were conducting industrial-level manufacturing of small armspurposely for subsequent illegal trafficking via the Ukrainian port of Odessa. According to the program, the trade was controlled by and benefited from Transnistria's founder and then-ruler Igor Smirnov.
However, more recent investigations and monitoring missions did not prove continuity in arms trafficking concerns. According to regular reports of the European Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), there have been no signs of significant weapons smuggling from Transnistria.[citation needed] During the press-conference on 30 November 2006 head of EUBAM Ferenc Banfi officially stated that organised smuggling of weapons in Transnistria did not exist. In 2013, Ukrainian Foreign Minister and acting chairman of the OSCE Leonid Kozhara gave an interview to El Paísnewspaper, commenting on situation in Transnistria and results of work of the EUBAM mission. According to Kozhara, there have been no cases of arms traffic found.
Some experts from Russia and Transnistria state that allegations of Transnistria being a 'mafia state', 'black hole of Europe', 'heaven for arms trafficking', etc. are a carefully planned defamation campaign paid by the Moldovan government and aimed at producing negative image of Transnistria.[better source needed]
Russia[edit]
The term has been used by Defector Alexander Litvinenko and some Western media to describe the political system in Russia under Vladimir Putin's rule. This characterization came to prominence following the United States diplomatic cables leak, which revealed that US diplomats viewed Russia as "a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a 'virtual mafia state.'" In his book titled Mafia State, journalist and author Luke Harding argues that Putin has "created a state peopled by ex-KGB and FSBofficers, like himself, [who are] bent on making money above all." In the estimation of American diplomats, "the government [of Russia] effectively [is] the mafia."
According to the New Statesman, "the term had entered the lexicon of expert discussion" several years before the cables leak, "and not as a frivolous metaphor. Those most familiar with the country had come to see it as a kleptocracy with Vladimir Putin in the role of capo di tutti capi, dividing the spoils and preventing turf wars between rival clans of an essentially criminal elite." In 2008, Stephen Blank noted that Russia under Putin is "a state that European officials privately call a Mafia state" that "naturally gravitates toward Mafia-like behavior."
Nikolay Petrov, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Centre, said "it's pretty hard to damage the Russian image in the world because it's already not very good".
Мафиозное государство
Мафиозное государство — модель государственного управления, при которой коррупция пронизывает все эшелоны государственной власти вплоть до симбиоза между государственным аппаратом и организованной преступностью.
В качестве примеров мафиозных государств в прессе назывались Италия времён Берлускони, Россия времён Путина и признанное частично государство Косово, власти которой обвинялись в причастности к торговле героином и человеческими органами.
Во время утечки дипломатических телеграмм США в 2010 г. выяснилось, что американские дипломаты во внутренней переписке нелестно отзываются о путинской России, обвиняя чиновников в коррумпированности и связях с мафией. Так, докладывая информацию о правительстве Лужкова, дипломат Джон Байерлисообщает, что «в связи с тем, что московское правительство имеет связи с криминалом, его работа похожа больше на клептократию, нежели на работу правительства». В этих же утечках испанский прокурор Гонсалес Хосе Гринда, расследовавший деятельность русской мафии в Испании, называет Россию «виртуальным мафиозным государством», где «нет он не может найти разницы между деятельностью официальных и криминальных структур».
В 2011 году Люк Хардинг, в течение долгого времени работавший московским корреспондентом газеты The Guardian, выпустил книгу «Мафиозное государство» (Mafia State), где описывает государственный аппарат России как машину по выкачиванию из страны денег на зарубежные счета выходцев из спецслужб. Он приходит к выводу, что в России «правительство — это и есть мафия» во главе с боссом боссов.
Примечания[править | править код]
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Mexico[edit]
The scholar of Law and Economics Edgardo Buscaglia describes the political system of Mexico as a "Mafiacracy". Buscaglia characterises the condition between the state, the economy and organized crime in Mexico as a mutual interweaving.
See also[edit]
Related concepts[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Jump up to:a b c d Andreas, Peter (2012-07-01). "Measuring the Mafia-State Menace: Are Government-Backed Gangs a Grave New Threat?". Foreignaffairs.com. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
- Jump up^ Luhn, Alec; Harding, Luke (5 November 2015). "Spain issues arrest warrants for Russian officials close to Putin". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- Jump up^ Letizia, Paoli (May 2016). Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics. Oxford University Press. pp. 670–671. ISBN 9780199669745.
- Jump up^ Andreas, Peter (2012-07-01). "Measuring the Mafia-State Menace". Foreignaffairs.com. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
- Jump up^ "An illegal business that's smoking". Business New Europe. 2012-04-18. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- Jump up^ "Ющенко: Украина недополучает из-за контрабанды из Приднестровья". Korrespondent. 23 March 2006. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- Jump up^ "Hotbed of weapons deals". The Washington Times. January 18, 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- Jump up^ СВИРИДЕНКО, АЛЕКСАНДР; НЕПРЯХИНА, НАТАЛИЯ (2006-10-03). "Приднестровье самоизолировалось". Kommersant-Ukraine. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
- Jump up^ Bulavchenko, Aliona (February 8, 2002). ДНЕСТРОВСКИЕ ПОРОГИ. Zerkalo Nedeli (in Russian). Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- Jump up^ Fragment of EUBAM press-conference regarding Mission activities in 2004-2006Transnistrian Customs Committee Press-Service.
- Jump up^ Some aspects of administrative legal regime of customs activities of Transnistria in context of work of international monitoring missions Customs and Science. 12 May 2011.
- Jump up^ Stephen Blank (2008): What Comes After the Russo–Georgian War? What's at Stake in the CIS, American Foreign Policy Interests, 30:6, 379–391
Further reading[edit]
- Luke Harding (2012). Mafia State: How One Reporter Became an Enemy of the Brutal New Russia. Guardian Books. ISBN 978-0-85265-249-7.
- Naím, M. (2012). Mafia states: Organized crime takes office. Foreign Aff., 91, 100.
- Wang, P. & Blancke, S. (2014). Mafia State: The Evolving Threat of North Korean Narcotics Trafficking. The RUSI Journal. 159 (5). 52-59.
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