I've saved the best for last....
(excerpted from Steve Boswell's paper)
The new world order has facilitated the spread of capitalism and the liberal democratic ideal. With it, we have seen the increase of criminal organizations and their power. The new global commodity chain is visible in both corporate business as well as illegal business. The global criminal organizations have formed strategic alliances as a rational response to the emergence of global markets. By being able to rely on each other they have been able to consolidate their influence throughout the world.
Just like global corporations, transnational crime organizations have diversified their trade. They are no longer focused on the trafficking of slave labour, drugs and other contraband as was thought by mainstream theorists. They are still dealing with these commodities but have also expanded into the legal realm. The Russian Mafiya is a known nuclear trafficker as well as dealing in delivery systems and computer technology. Other groups have specialized in currency trade and speculation. No longer is the mafia a bunch of "thugs", instead they have gone hi-tech and have made "smart business decisions".
Implications for Further Study
By using a marxist interpretation of the global capitalist system and employing marxist criminological methods, it is easier to understand the functions of criminal organizations. The traditional methods as discussed earlier are focused only on bureaucratic models, perceived threats, and paper tigers. They ignore the role of the international global system and the potential for transnational crime syndicates. Marxist interpretations allows for a deeper structural analysis and perhaps a better insight into the functions of big business and organized/syndicated crime.
In this paper I have analyzed the Russian Mafiya and discussed its role in the Russian economy and political system. The two are interdependent on each other, just as explained in marxist criminology. It is possible to use this analysis and compare other crime syndicates by employing the same methodological frameworks. Since the global capitalist system is becoming the dominant mode of production, the role of illegal economies can no longer be ignored. While the mainstream theorists continue to analyze organized crime with their partial understandings and offering little in the way of solutions, it is important to obtain the root of the problem and identify the problem.
Organized crime is essential to the functioning of capitalism. Without it, capitalism will lose its legitimacy because it will have to diversify investment into the illegal sectors that are seen as immoral or bad by the polity. The crime syndicates offer an outlet for this problem and can help maintain the image of big business and the role of the state. Economic crimes and economy as crime will continue to be blurred in the global capitalist system. The state will continue to legitimize its economy by focusing the notions of crime onto the illegal sector. Economic crimes will continue to be identified in the illegal sector of the market, and the ruling elite of the crime syndicates will continue to divert the blame onto lower classes of the criminal market as described by Ruggiero in his Fordist model of the drug economies.
For Russia, the Mafiya will continue to exist. Its power will fluctuate in accordance with the legitimacy of the state. As big business continues to invest, they will request for the state to divert interest from them and onto the "criminals". The Mafiya will accept its role and punish its thugs and petty thieves. The real criminals will never be prosecuted or even identified under the current global system. The CEOs, the politicians, the mafia bosses, and the world leaders will continue their game of illusions and divert the public interest from themselves onto an exploited class.
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