Link between Globalization and Organized Crime

Link between Globalization and Organized Crime

Introduction

Transnational criminal organizations have been one of the biggest beneficiaries of globalization. On one hand, globalization facilitates greater international trade and legitimate exchange of goods, services and ideas between the countries, but the phenomenon also increases the difficulty of the law enforcement and regulating agencies to control and regulate international trade. Drug, arms and human traffickers and smugglers have exploited this vulnerability in the international regulatory system and it resulted in emergence of large transnational and organized criminal groups. Globalization has certainly increased the socioeconomic inequality around the world, which caused and still causing a fairly large number of people, especially in the developing countries, to join organized crime.

Discussion

Globalization has certainly expanded the reach of criminal organizations and those groups who were operating within a single country or region until the 1980s have extended their illegal operations globally with enormous financial benefits, inflicting damages to the majority of countries in the international community. The markets for transnational and organized groups of criminals, crisscross the globe, transporting arms, drugs, stolen natural resources or protected animals (more often in parts) and trafficking women for sex trade.

The dirty money then generated from these illegal activities every year amount to hundreds of billions in dollars, with some transnational criminal groups earning more than the total GDP of majority of nations on this earth. A significant portion of the illegally earned money, or as it is widely called the 'black money', is used for corrupting government institutions and officials, fueling conflict in order to increase arms sale and distorting national and local economies (Benedek, 2010).

Globalized Economy

Transnational organized criminal groups and syndicates have globalized their activities, the reason being the same as that for legitimate multinational business corporations. Just as international business corporations seek to establish their presence in different parts of the world in order to take advantage of conducive and attractive market conditions, provision of cheap labor or raw material for production, so do the groups involved in illegal business activities. Moreover, multinational business groups, whether lawful or illicit, also set up facilities around the world for marketing, production and distribution requirements.

In the recent years, a great number of illicit business and criminal groups have expanded geographically to reap the benefits of emerging market and economic conditions as a result of globalization and revolution in international communication and transportation. Meanwhile, terrorist groups have globalized their operation and have also started to take share of illicit transnational business in order to raise fund for their terrorist activities. Furthermore, globalization has also helped them to recruit internationally thereby gathering support for their operation and ideology logistically and financially (Siegel, and Nelen. 2008).

Post World War II Era

The rapid and unprecedented growth in illegal and criminal transnational activities has also largely been aided by the great advances and progress made in technology after the end of the World War II. The revolution in modes of mass communication and transportation, rise commercial air traffic, growth of international ...