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here - Center on International Cooperation - New York University

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W<str<strong>on</strong>g>here</str<strong>on</strong>g> criminal enclaves emerge, states often exert c<strong>on</strong>trolover them by mediating enclave str<strong>on</strong>gmen’s accessto transnati<strong>on</strong>al illicit flows. 72 The result is sometimes akind of ‘violent pluralism,’ involving a significant dose ofcriminal activity as we have seen especially in Africa, 73and also Latin America. 74 This has important implicati<strong>on</strong>sfor development interventi<strong>on</strong>s. Development outcomeswithin these territorial and social enclaves may bec<strong>on</strong>trolled as much by local criminal actors as state politicalactors. Development actors must t<str<strong>on</strong>g>here</str<strong>on</strong>g>fore anticipateinteracti<strong>on</strong> with actors implicated in crime, and c<strong>on</strong>siderthe dynamics and implicati<strong>on</strong>s of such engagement.Engagement with such actors can legitimize them, perhapseven at the expense of central state instituti<strong>on</strong>s. Howevera refusal to engage with such actors may, at best, meanthat development actors cannot influence developmentwithin those outcomes. As the Dudus Coke case in Jamaicadem<strong>on</strong>strates, external pressure <strong>on</strong> political actors to turntheir backs <strong>on</strong> local criminal str<strong>on</strong>gmen may even lead toviolence (see Box 2, below).Box 2: The Results of External Pressure <strong>on</strong> thePolitical-Criminal Nexus in JamaicaIn May 2010, under pressure from the US government, formerPrime Minister Bruce Golding ordered Jamaican securityforces to invade the neighborhoods of Denham Town andTivoli Gardens in Kingst<strong>on</strong>, Jamaica’s capital, to execute anarrest warrant for Christopher “Dudus” Coke, the local “d<strong>on</strong>.”Coke was the head of the infamous Shower Posse, a gangthat c<strong>on</strong>trolled sizable porti<strong>on</strong>s of organized crime activity <strong>on</strong>the island and was accused by the United States governmentof drug trafficking and racketeering. Gangsters from aroundthe Kingst<strong>on</strong> area c<strong>on</strong>verged <strong>on</strong> these neighborhoods inan effort to protect Coke who ran a sizable and complexcriminal operati<strong>on</strong> in western Kingst<strong>on</strong>. Residents of thecommunity had turned out several days before to demand thegovernment give up its efforts to bring Coke to justice. Facedwith c<strong>on</strong>siderable and well-organized armed oppositi<strong>on</strong>,72. William Reno (1998), Warlord Politics and African States, Boulder CO and L<strong>on</strong>d<strong>on</strong>: LynneRienner, pp. 8-10.73. Jean-François Bayart, Bayart, Stephen Ellis, and Beatrice Hibou (2009). The Criminalizati<strong>on</strong> ofthe State in Africa, Bloomingt<strong>on</strong>: Indiana <strong>University</strong> Press; Reno, William (2009), “Illicit Commerce inPeripheral States,” in H. R. Friman (ed.), Crime and the Global Political Ec<strong>on</strong>omy, Boulder, CO: LynneRienner, pp. 67-84.74. Desm<strong>on</strong>d Enrique Arias (2010), “Understanding Criminal Networks, Political Order, andPolitics in Latin America,” in Anne L. Clunan and Harold A. Trinkunas (eds.), Ungoverned Spaces:Alternatives to State Authority in an Era of Softened Sovereignty, Stanford CA: Stanford SecurityStudies, an Imprint of Stanford <strong>University</strong> Press, pp. 115-135.Golding warned residents to evacuate. On 28th May, troopsentered the area and carried out an operati<strong>on</strong> that killed some70 residents.These events represented the culminati<strong>on</strong> of eight m<strong>on</strong>ths ofintense political and diplomatic wrangling following a requestby the United States government for Coke’s extraditi<strong>on</strong>. TheGolding government had d<strong>on</strong>e everything in its power andmore to avoid arresting Coke, including hiring a US-basedlaw firm to lobby the Obama Administrati<strong>on</strong> to withdrawits request. When Golding’s attempt to evade Jamaica’sinternati<strong>on</strong>al treaty obligati<strong>on</strong>s came to light, the country’spolitical establishment shuddered. Golding resigned as leaderof the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP), potentially opening thedoor to new electi<strong>on</strong>s. His party, however, refused to accepthis resignati<strong>on</strong> and the administrati<strong>on</strong> staggered <strong>on</strong>wards.The US government found innovative ways to pressure hisgovernment, including cancelling the US visa of prominent JLPsupporters, t<str<strong>on</strong>g>here</str<strong>on</strong>g>by creating significant business difficultiesand embarrassment for a porti<strong>on</strong> of the Jamaican elite.Ultimately, the violent military incursi<strong>on</strong> into Kingst<strong>on</strong> Westernwas unsuccessful in that Coke managed to escape. But withno place to hide, he so<strong>on</strong> surrendered and was extradited tothe US. He pled guilty to racketeering charges in a <strong>New</strong> <strong>York</strong>court and in June 2012 received a maximum pris<strong>on</strong> sentenceof 23 years. 75 Golding, <strong>on</strong> the other hand, offered exempti<strong>on</strong>from prosecuti<strong>on</strong> to other prominent gang leaders acrossKingst<strong>on</strong> in exchange for relative peace. Lower violence ratesin late 2010 and early 2011 testify to those arrangements. The<strong>on</strong>ly powerful figure to suffer from the Coke debacle in theimmediate term was Attorney General and Justice MinisterDorothy Lightbourne who was forced to step down. Goldingand his party went <strong>on</strong> to lose the general electi<strong>on</strong>s.The Mafia ScenarioThe sec<strong>on</strong>d analytical ‘ideal type’ is <strong>on</strong>e we describe as a‘mafia scenario’. In the mafia scenario an organized criminalgroup’s political power flows not from its m<strong>on</strong>opoly ofviolence in a defined territorial space (though it may enjoyc<strong>on</strong>siderable influence or even c<strong>on</strong>trol); rather, a mafia’spower flows from the relative absence of the state fromcriminal markets. Organized crime groups wield power75. “Dudus gets his due,” The Ec<strong>on</strong>omist, June 13, 2012, http://www.ec<strong>on</strong>omist.com/blogs/americasview/2012/06/ organised-crime-jamaica35Resp<strong>on</strong>ding to the Impact of Organized Crime <strong>on</strong> Developing CountriesNYUCIC

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