Transnational Organized Crime, Terrorism, and WMD
| Autor: | Bartosz H. Stanislawski |
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| Rok vydání: | 2005 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | International Studies Review. 7:158-160 |
| ISSN: | 1468-2486 1521-9488 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/j.1521-9488.2005.479_10.x |
| Popis: | Traditional approaches treat terrorism separately from organized crime for at least two reasons. First, considering terrorism as a form of crime is controversial, and opinions are divided both theoretically and in the policymaking world. Second, terrorists and criminals are driven by different motivations: political, ideological, religious, and ethnic “causes” versus money, respectively. Based on this difference, many find it fairly easy to distinguish between these two phenomena. Not all so-called terrorists, however, operate on the basis of political, ideological, religious, or ethnic goals. Not anymore, anyway. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), for example, used to be a politically motivated guerrilla organization. Presently it profits from drug trafficking; the organization benefits monetarily from this enterprise and is unlikely to give such activity up easily. Its members have always acted criminally in order to support themselves financially; ransom-motivated hostage-taking was and still is a significant part of the FARC funding. But they seem to have crossed a line. The political rebels have become pirates, while still pretending to be rebels to recruit new members, maintain a “legitimate” public image, justify, many would argue, some of their own acts to themselves. Terrorist organizations often maintain groups composed of organized criminals that help the “political” wings function. Hizballah, Hamas, and al-Qaeda all operate sophisticated fund-raising networks in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. These fund-raising operations are often based on voluntary contributions for the “cause,” but they also frequently involve extortion, blackmail, and other criminal activities. Hizballah, for instance, has for a long time maintained … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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