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| This month’s newsletter includes: A bumper crop of new publications: organised crime and security sector reform/governance; mutual legal assistance for fighting corruption in Southeast Europe; brief on information manipulation and SOC; gang rule and countering criminal governance, including success (albeit with a sting in the tail for policymakers); and a Spanish-language translation of research on organised crime, peace processes and mediation. Report back from our first-ever SOC ACE Research Conference held at the University of Birmingham. Updates on an innovative Policy Lab on Para-statal armed groups, illicit economies and organised crime, bringing together researchers with policymakers and practitioners for co-production of knowledge. Launch of a new Pan-Anti-Corruption Evidence (ACE) Seminar Series. SOC ACE research on Russian sanctions evasion featured in a new House of Commons report, while other research on anti-corruption and counter-SOC messaging is in a new Kickback podcast episode. And much more…
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| | Each month, we’ll be showcasing our latest research, news & events. Click on the subscribe button to receive our newsletter. |
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| | Inaugural SOC ACE Research Conference |
|  | Last month, SOC ACE hosted its first-ever research conference at the University of Birmingham, bringing together researchers from all current SOC ACE research projects with policymakers and operational colleagues from the UK, as well as representatives from both Global Integrity ACE (GI ACE) and SOAS ACE for sharing, peer learning and identifying potential areas of collaboration. Researchers presented work in progress to colleagues in a series of thematic panels on smuggling and cross-border organised crime, state threats, illicit finance and economic crime, destabilisation and peace, transnational threats and reforms for countering organised crime, illicit finance and corruption. Cross-SOC ACE learning sessions included identifying potential insights for other research teams from the experiences of the team leading a Policy Lab on paramilitaries and illicit economies (see below), as well as discussing innovations in methodology, measurement and technology across a number of research projects. Researchers and colleagues from policy and operational roles also shared experiences with building meaningful engagement to maximise policy impact. Many thanks to everyone who participated and who helped make the time together so fun and thought-provoking! |
| | |  | Professor Jonathan Goodhand and Dr Patrick Meehan led a Policy Lab examining the role of the relationship between coercive brokers, public authority, and frontier governance, and paramilitary involvement in illicit economies, organised crime and politics. The project builds on previous research and advances a conceptual framework, analysing the nexus in borderland and frontier regions. A panel of academic and policy experts took part in a series of meetings to discuss and refine lessons from the research project for policy, applying the co-produced recommendations to a range of specific case studies. Reports from the Policy Lab will be published on the project website. |
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|  | On 1st October, we were part of the launch of a new Pan-ACE Seminar Series alongside colleagues at GI ACE and SOAS ACE. The first webinar in the series focused on state capture and development, delving into how state capture works, its global prevalence, and strategies to combat it. Speakers include Dr Daniel Kaufmann (Senior Fellow at Results for Development) and Professor Liz David-Barrett (Deputy Director at GI ACE), and the chair was Professor Robert Barrington (Centre for the Study of Corruption, University of Sussex). Watch recording. |
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|  | The Centre for Finance and Security (CFS) at RUSI hosted a UK Home Office and National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) Academic Conference that brought together 80+ representatives from across UK Government and academics to explore how academia and government can collaborate more effectively on building the evidence needed to combat financial crime. The event was launched with speeches from Dan Jarvis MP, UK Minister of State for Security, and Adrian Searle, the NECC’s Director. Dr Maria Nizzero chaired a panel on An era of collaboration: challenges and opportunities of joint work between HMG and academia, including Professor Jennifer Rubin (Chief Scientific Advisor, Home Office), Sal Melki (Head of Illicit Finance Threat, National Crime Agency), Professor Michael Levi (University of Cardiff) and Professor Heather Marquette (SOC ACE Director, University of Birmingham). Heather shared insights on SOC ACE’s approach to research and engagement, including lessons from both successes and challenges on effective engagement. Breakout group discussions centred on improving collaboration, overcoming barriers, and identifying opportunities for joint efforts between academia and government. A report on the event will be out soon on the CFS’s website. |
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|  | The latest episode of the GI TOC DeepDive podcast – Colombia & Total Peace: Part 1 – "The ELN: The Easy Win" – explores Colombia’s Total Peace policy and its challenges in negotiating with criminal groups. Presented by researchers from the SOC ACE project Negotiating with criminal groups: Colombia’s Total Peace policy, this episode delves into the complexities of implementing Total Peace – initially optimistic, the Petro administration hoped for a peace agreement within three months. However, over two years later, talks have stalled, and ultimately collapsed casting doubt on the future of Colombia's peace efforts. Speaker(s): Juanita Durán-Vélez (Lawyer, Crime and Justice Lab, Colombia), Kyle Johnson (Researcher & Academic Director of the Conflict Responses Foundation, Bogotá, Colombia) and Felipe Botero Escobar (Head of Andean Regional Office, GI TOC). Listen Now. |
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| |  | Professor Heather Marquette joined a RUSI-led panel on Combatting modern kleptocracy: assessing the impact of two years of sanctions on Russia at the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Vilnius. Participants included Tom Keatinge (RUSI), Zoe Reiter (NDI), Juhani Grossman (Basel Institute on Governance) and Kinga Redlowska (RUSI Brussels) as chair. Watch recording. |
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| | |  | Addressing Organised Crime and Security Sector Reform and Governance: Linkages, processes, outcomes and challenges.
Huma Haider (Independent)
The linkages between SOC, the state of the security sector and security sector reform and governance (SSR/G) are stark, complex and multifaceted. There is, however, limited research that explicitly profiles and examines the connections. In seeking to address this gap, this evidence review paper explicitly profiles and examines how security and justice institutions, organised crime, security sector reforms and governance (SSR/G) and counter-organised crime interventions influence and impact each other, positively and negatively. Read more. |
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|  | The Legal Design of Domestic MLA Procedures in Southeast Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Serbia, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Slobodan Tomic (University of York) & Elizabeth David-Barrett (University of Sussex)
New book chapter based on SOC ACE research Transnational Governance Networks Against Grand Corruption. The chapter is published in ‘Financial Crime, Law and Governance’ and explores the domestic legal design of Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) procedures, analysing individual forms of MLA such as extradition of suspects or convicts, takeover or surrender of prosecution, and execution of foreign judgments. The analysis compares legislation from three countries in Southeast Europe: Serbia, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Read more. |
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|  | Gang Rule: Understanding and Countering Criminal Governance.
The Review of Economic Studies. Oxford Academic.
Christopher Blattman, Gustavo Duncan, Benjamin Lessing, Santiago Tobón
This new journal article looks at criminal governance, where criminal groups govern millions worldwide, with a specific focus on Medellín, Colombia. Even in strong states, gangs resolve disputes and provide security, and in many cases, gangs fill vacuums of official order. There is a general presumption in the field that increasing state presence should crowd out criminal governance, but the research in this article shows that state and gang rule are sometimes complements. Drawing on extensive qualitative interviews and a city-wide representative survey, and using a geographic regression continuity design, the research shows that gang rule can best be weakened by targeting gangs’ illicit revenue. However, the research also points to an important caveat, a ‘terrible policy trade-off' for city governments, with evidence that weakening gangs could make their neighbourhoods more violent and coercive. Open Access.
See SOC ACE Briefing Note: The terrible trade-off: how the hidden cost of organised crime harms cities, and what can be done about it. |
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|  | Use Incentives, Not Brute Force, on Cartels.
Benjamin Lessing (University of Chicago)
Latin America’s struggles with organised crime and violence are both tragic and puzzling. Decades of mano dura crackdowns seem to have only worsened things. The problem is not capacity: Latin American states have militarised police and massive prison systems and are not afraid to use them. Yet such repressive force can be counterproductive when deployed indiscriminately. The result is widespread and costly punishment, but little deterrence. Overcrowded and expanding prisons are the physical embodiment of this failure. From them, crime bosses organise street gangs into city- and nation-wide coalitions that govern vast civilian populations; launch coordinated terror attacks that can shut down cities and force government concessions; and continue to operate and expand international trafficking networks. In this article for the Economist, Professor Benjamin Lessing explains why hardline efforts to fight organised crime have backfired and discusses conditional repression as an alternative approach that has proven successful, but with critical trade-offs to consider. Read more. |
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|  | Nueva traducción al español: Grupos del crimen organizado, agendas criminales, violencia y conflicto: Implicaciones en materia de participación, negociación y procesos de paz.
Huma Haider (Independiente)
Esta nota informativa resume la investigación sobre la negociación con actores criminales en procesos de paz. El documento revisa la literatura académica y profesional en una amplia variedad de disciplinas de investigación, demostrando la importancia de crear un marco para relacionarse con la criminalidad y los grupos de crimen organizado que vaya más allá de la confrontación. Lee más. |
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|  | New briefing note: Information Manipulation and Organised Crime: Examining the Nexus
Tena Prelec (University of Rijeka)
This new briefing note summarises research that delves into the intriguing, lesser-explored realm of organised crime groups' involvement in shaping information landscapes. This research introduces a new framework for assessing the relationship between information manipulation and organised crime. Through applied real-world case studies from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova (Transnistria), and Albania, the framework reveals diverse patterns in these relationships, and the varying intensity of the information manipulation employed at a granular level. Read more. |
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| | | Peace Negotiations with Organized Crime: the Case of Medellín, Colombia. Felipe Botero, Gina Cabarcas Maciá , Juanita Durán and Andrés Preciado. GI TOC 24hr Conference on Global Organized Crime. 30 October 2024, 5:30 - 6:45 PM GMT. Reserve your place.
Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling in Central and South Asia – Experience of Local Civil Society Actors. Dr. Prem Mahadevan, Maria Khoruk, Meerim Osmonalievea and Sevim Saadat. GI TOC 24hr Conference on Global Organized Crime. 31 October 2024, 8:30 - 9:45 AM GMT. Reserve your place.
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| | | A new publication from Erica Marat, Marlene Laruelle, and Gagan Atreya finds that China and Russia are leveraging existing illiberal trends to expand their global reach. ‘China and Russia as Service Providers for Illiberal Governance’, published in the Wiley Online Library, explores the evolving roles of China and Russia in promoting illiberal governance practices worldwide. This insightful analysis, delves into the mechanisms through which these countries export their governance models, highlighting the implications for international relations and democratic values. Read more.
A new publication from Alexander Kupatadze (King’s College London, KCL) on ‘Regional Hubs of Illicit Trade: Ukraine’ has been published by the Terrorism, Transnational Crime & Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University as part of their Hubs of Illicit Trade Project. The research examines the ways in which illicit goods are traded, current trends and contributing factors, focusing on four main commodities: drugs, cigarettes, arms, and humans. It also looks at the impact of the war in Ukraine on illicit trade. Read more.
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