The State and Transnational Organized Crime: a Case Study Analysis of Criminal Opportunities in the Russian Federation and the United States

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The State and Transnational Organized Crime: a Case Study Analysis of Criminal Opportunities in the Russian Federation and the United States THE STATE AND TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME: A CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION AND THE UNITED STATES YULIYA G. ZABYELINA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF TRENTO IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY TRENTO, ITALY 2013 2 EXAMINING COMMITTEE MEMBERS Thesis Supervisor DR. ANDREA DI NICOLA UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO Facoltà di Giurisprudenza Via Verdi 53 – 38122 Trento, Italy Email: [email protected] External Examiners DR. GEORGIOS ANTONOPOULOS TEESSIDE UNIVERSITY School of Social Sciences and Law Middlesbrough, Tees Valley TS1 3BA United Kingdom Email: [email protected] DR. BARBARA VETTORI UNIVERSITÀ CATTOLICA DEL SACRO CUORE Facoltà di Scienze Politiche e Sociali L.go Gemelli, 1 – 20123 Milano, Italy Email: [email protected] 3 © COPYRIGHT 2013 BY YULIYA G. ZABYELINA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4 ABSTRACT The concern with the role of failing and post-conflict states as incubators of transnational organized crime (TOC) was a recurrent theme in research in the 1990s. Because of deep- seated institutional failures, instability and impoverishment, weak states were considered as crime-facilitative environments, in which criminal organizations were provided with rewarding criminal opportunities and a high degree of immunity. The resilience of properly functioning states has often been taken for granted in mainstream accounts of TOC. Fragmented but nevertheless important empirical data provide evidence that TOC has established in many countries around the world irrespective of high levels of economic development and outstanding governance. This dissertation studies the nexus between state features and TOC. In order to do so, a qualitative analysis of the formation of criminal opportunities within different types of states is offered. Two case studies, the Russian Federation (the North Caucasus region) and the United States (the US-Mexico border area) were selected for the analysis. Although the two states have encountered similar security problems such as those related to securing extended borders, fighting terrorism and TOC, they have experienced different patterns of relative success and failure circumscribed by their contrasting governance, economic and security capacities as well as different roles, perspectives and ambitions on global and regional agendas. Based on the data collected from interviews with experts in Moscow and in Washington, D.C., the analysis of official reports, secondary literature and the mass media, the dissertation offers both the knowledge base on organized crime groups and specific criminal offences, as well as develops a comparative framework for the study of criminal opportunities in the context of poorly functioning and properly-performing states defined along Weberian categories of statehood. The analysis of the data was performed to develop a typology of criminal opportunities for TOC. Three major categories are distinguished. Criminal opportunities of a-type are characteristic of poorly functioning states and presuppose a vicious downward spiral, in which deteriorating political, economic and security institutions as well as the presence of illicit armed groups and lawless zones generate unprecedented criminogenic opportunities such as in the case of the Russian Federation during the two large-scale wars in Chechnya and the post-conflict reconstruction years. Criminal opportunities of b-type refer to situations, when policies adopted by developed democracies accidentally facilitate transnational criminal activities, thus, creating more lucrative criminal opportunities. Based on the analysis of criminal activities at the US-Mexico border, the dissertation argues that properly functioning states that endorse vastly penalizing security policies create the criminogenic environment that instigates more sophisticated and resourceful criminal strategies. Finally, not only state qualities define criminal opportunities. The nature of the systemic environment is a crucial contributing factor to the formation of criminal opportunities of c-type. The findings suggest that TOC triumphs in the circumstances of criminogenic asymmetries constituted by systemic gaps between those states that are affluent and secure and those that are poor and ungoverned. Discrepancies between properly functioning states and zones of instability generate lucrative opportunities for 5 the creation of black markets. This said, criminal opportunities may not only be produced by states but also by a particular composition of asymmetric relationships among states. Although non-exclusive and often overlapping, the patterns of the formation of criminal opportunities studied in this dissertation are important as they provide greater detail about the concept of a criminal opportunity and shed light to the role of the state as target and a facilitator of TOC. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS During the period of thinking, researching and writing this dissertation, I have incurred many debts. I own a debt of gratitude to a number of individuals who provided their time, encouragement, inspiration and invaluable advice. I am also indebted to several institutions whose financial and administrative resources were indispensable to the success of this dissertation. I want to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor Dr. Andrea Di Nicola for providing me with guidance, moral support and wise advice in the process of writing the thesis and further career development. I am grateful to him for his careful review of the thesis and insightful comments. I would have never accomplished this research if it were not for his support and encouragement to pursue an interdisciplinary angle of looking at the problem of transnational organized crime. Special thanks go to Ms. Rosaria Astarita and Ms. Silvia Tomaselli for their administrative support and an invaluable contribution into the arrangements of the PhD Program in International Studies at the University of Trento. Mr. Mark Beittel should be expressed sincere gratitude and appreciation for providing language assistance and helping develop the crispness of academic prose. A number of other institutions aided in the collection of data and research. I would like to thank Dr. Louise Shelley and Dr. Kim Thachuk for their continued support and the opportunity to work on the thesis at the Terrorism, Transnational Organized Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University, Washington, D.C. Researchers at Carnegie Endowment for Peace in Moscow should also be heartily acknowledged for helping make my research trip to Moscow productive. Special thanks go to Dr. Klaus von Lampe and Dr. Jana Arsovska for introducing me to the thriving research community at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. I am also grateful to the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER) and the Carnegie Corporation of New York for providing the resources that made the research trip to New York possible. I have been incredibly fortunate to have attended the ECPR Summer School on Organized Crime and owe a great deal of appreciation to Dr. Bill Tupman and Dr. Federico Varese for an excellent academic environment, in which most of my ideas on transnational organized crime developed and solidified. Moreover, I have developed some of the ideas presented in the thesis through a series of publications that appeared in such peer-review journals such as Global Crime, Trends in Organized Crime, International Journal of Energy Security and Environmental Research, Central European Journal of International and Security Studies and Jane’s Intelligence Review. My arguments have also been enriched with comments and suggestions accumulated from conference presentations such as those given at the Global Studies Association Convention (Oxford/2010), the American Security Initiative conference (Washington, D.C./2010), several regional meetings of the International Studies Association (Providence/2010; Baltimore/2010) and conventions of the Italian Political Sciences Association (Palermo/2011; Rome/2012). I thank editors and peer reviewers, as well as panel participants for their input and the opportunity to develop my ideas along the way. 7 Finally, the contents of my dissertation improved considerably from advice, feedback and willingness to ponder over the puzzles offered by my peers at the School of International Studies at the University of Trento. I warmly thank Ms. Anita Lavorgna, Ms. Irina Kustova and Ms. Viktoria Akhchurina for their suggestions. I truly hope that our friendship is going to last throughout the years ahead. My research would have not been possible without the support provided by my family. They supported me through the tough times on the way towards the final exam. I am especially indebted to my mom Liudmila for her sincere patience, warmth and love. Despite the most grievous losses of my father Gennadiy and brother Andrey who passed away in 2012, I nevertheless managed to complete the doctoral dissertation that I dedicate to them. 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION .................................................................................................................. 12 LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................ 14 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................................................
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