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Protecting Politics: Deterring the Influence of Organized Crime On Protecting Politics Deterring the Influence of Organized Crime on Local Democracy Protecting Politics: Deterring the Influence of Organized Crime on Local Democracy Local democracy encompasses formal and informal subnational institutions that respond to citizens’ needs. At the centre of local democratic practice are open governments, which provide people with space to promote participation, deliberation and a focus on public interests. However, local state fragility undermines democracy. Organized crime increasingly exploits such weaknesses in order to protect its illicit businesses, as political corruption is an ideal avenue preferred by organized criminal groups. This report examines the interlinkages between organized crime networks and political actors at the local level. It also analyses policy responses (particularly decentralization policies) that have—intentionally or unintentionally—enabled or prevented organized crime engagement in political corruption at the local level. Case studies from Afghanistan, Colombia and Niger illustrate how illicit networks relate to local levels of government and decentralization processes. International IDEA Global Initiative against ISBN 978-91-7671-065-4 Strömsborg Transnational Organized Crime SE-103 34 Stockholm WMO Building, 2nd Floor Sweden 7bis Avenue de la Paix T +46 8 698 37 00 Geneva, CH-1211 F +46 8 20 24 22 Switzerland [email protected] [email protected] 9 789176 710654 > www.idea.int www.globalinitiative.net ISBN: 978-91-7671-065-4 Protecting Politics Deterring the Influence of Organized Crime on Local Democracy Protecting Politics Deterring the Influence of Organized Crime on Local Democracy Series editor: Catalina Uribe Burcher Lead authors: Catalina Perdomo and Catalina Uribe Burcher Contributors: Tuesday Reitano, Marcena Hunter and Adam Rodriques © 2016 International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance © 2016 Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime International IDEA Strömsborg SE-103 34 STOCKHOLM SWEDEN Tel: +46 8 698 37 00, fax: +46 8 20 24 22 Email: [email protected], website: www.idea.int Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime WMO Building, 2nd Floor 7bis Avenue de la Paix Geneva, CH-1211 Switzerland Email: [email protected], website: www.globalinitiative.net The electronic version of this publication is available under a Creative Commons Attribute-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 licence. You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the publication as well as to remix and adapt it provided it is only for non-commercial purposes, that you appropriately attribute the publication, and that you distribute it under an identical licence. For more information on this licence see: <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/>. International IDEA publications are independent of specific national or political interests. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of International IDEA or the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, or those of their respective Boards and Council members. Cover photograph: ‘Daily life in Herat, Afghanistan’ (UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein), made available via Flickr under the terms of a Creative Commons licence (CC-BY-NC-ND-2.0) Graphic design by Santángelo Diseño ISBN: 978-91-7671-065-4 Contents Preface ........................................................................................................................................ 7 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 10 Basic definitions .............................................................................................................. 14 Chapter 2 Organized crime, democracy and the state ............................................................ 20 How democratic institutions and organized crime networks affect each other .............................................................................................................. 21 Types of arrangements between organized criminals and politicians ........... 22 How these relationships benefit both parties ........................................................ 23 Chapter 3 The nexus between organized crime and politics at the local level ......... 24 Further hindering political contestation ................................................................. 26 Exacerbating weak governance and corruption .................................................... 27 Contributing to violence .............................................................................................. 28 Chapter 4 Case study: Afghanistan ................................................................................................... 30 Government in the centre, warlords on the periphery ....................................... 31 Implications for organized crime .............................................................................. 33 Monopoly on violence ................................................................................................... 34 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 35 International IDEA / Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime 5 Chapter 5 Case study: Colombia ......................................................................................................... 36 Transferring power and authority from the central government to the local level ............................................................................................................... 38 Organized crime and decentralization .................................................................... 39 Legal reforms .................................................................................................................... 39 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 42 Chapter 6 Case study: Niger .................................................................................................................. 44 Delinking crime from politics .................................................................................... 46 Organized crime: A livelihood strategy ................................................................... 47 Competing power structures and the role of illicit networks: who delivers services? ..................................................................................................... 49 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 50 Chapter 7 Conclusions .............................................................................................................................. 52 References and further reading .................................................................................... 56 About the authors ................................................................................................................. 70 About the organizations ................................................................................................... 72 6 International IDEA / Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime Preface The heart of democracy lies at the local level. Citizens’ direct experience of political participation and deliberation mainly takes place in the context of city councils, associations and local branches of political parties. The local government’s capacity to provide basic services fundamentally shapes the relationship between citizens and their representatives. Decentralization reforms, migration and increasing levels of urbanization in recent decades have changed how local governments cope with citizen demands—and which avenues they offer for people to engage in the political decision-making process. Other global trends, however, threaten to erode this relationship between local democratic actors and citizens. The presence of organized crime works as a catalyst for political corruption, hollowing out institutions at all levels of government. The goals of, and relationships between, organized crime and politicians may overlap in several ways—for example, through mayors involved in money laundering, community police turning a blind eye to trafficking corridors or local political parties supporting candidates with criminal linkages. While such illicit networks may also affect national- level politics, a number of specific factors—including lower levels of media attention, tighter economic interests, fewer oversight mechanisms and local authorities’ reduced capacity—make local democracy particularly vulnerable to the interests of organized crime. Understanding which local democratic weaknesses these networks exploit is the first step towards preventing and mitigating political corruption at the local level. Since 2011 the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) has contributed to enhancing this understanding as part of the Protecting Politics project. By analysing the evidence and policy related to the nexus of organized crime and democracy, this project has shed light on these networks’ capacity to exploit institutional fragility around the world. International IDEA and other partners
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