Transnational Crime and Black Spots
Date of Publication
2020 12:00 AM
Security Theme
Transnational Organized Crime
Keywords
Transnational Organized Crime, Poor governance, transnational crime, insurgency, black spots, insecruity, authority, socio-economics, trafficking
Description
Based on this research and an extensive review of literature on the behavior of transnational criminal, insurgent, and terrorist organizations; of what goes on in supposedly ungoverned territories and so-called failed states; and of various types of illegal trafficking, we developed a set of questions to ask of other identified potential black spots to explore if Ciudad del Este was ‘one of a kind’ or whether there were other such functioning areas like it. We focused on the following four sets of ques- tions that our literature review and experience suggested were important to examine. Each set explores a different area of analysis: (1) What are the conditions that lead to the development of black spots and their sustain- ability? (2) How is state authority challenged and/or undermined by a black spot? (3) What kinds of insecurity do black spots produce and/or export to the outside world and how? (4) What defensive moves have national and international legitimate authorities made in response to black spots? The questions posed in each of these areas of analysis have become the foundation for a coding manual used as a guide in doing an in-depth case study of each black spot. The answers to these questions form the data on which this book is based.
Transnational Crime and Black Spots
Based on this research and an extensive review of literature on the behavior of transnational criminal, insurgent, and terrorist organizations; of what goes on in supposedly ungoverned territories and so-called failed states; and of various types of illegal trafficking, we developed a set of questions to ask of other identified potential black spots to explore if Ciudad del Este was ‘one of a kind’ or whether there were other such functioning areas like it. We focused on the following four sets of ques- tions that our literature review and experience suggested were important to examine. Each set explores a different area of analysis: (1) What are the conditions that lead to the development of black spots and their sustain- ability? (2) How is state authority challenged and/or undermined by a black spot? (3) What kinds of insecurity do black spots produce and/or export to the outside world and how? (4) What defensive moves have national and international legitimate authorities made in response to black spots? The questions posed in each of these areas of analysis have become the foundation for a coding manual used as a guide in doing an in-depth case study of each black spot. The answers to these questions form the data on which this book is based.