This report highlights the importance of separating organised crime from politics while enhancing legitimate governance and service delivery. Based on a literature review and six country case studies, it offers detailed recommendations in five core areas: protecting the political process; modernising and strengthening law enforcement and the judiciary; supporting crime-sensitive economic and social policy development; engaging civil society and the media; and deepening the knowledge base. The report also discusses assessment and analytical frameworks to help donors determine when to engage and what to prioritise.
The research included: a review of primary and secondary literature; case studies of Nepal, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Guyana, and Jamaica; and a broader study of Latin America and the Caribbean. The field research involved semi-structured interviews with a wide range of stakeholders.
Across all of the case studies organised crime is prevalent and has important impacts on governance. A common core issue is that political and public sector corruption has allowed organised crime to develop or flourish, undermining the legitimacy of state institutions, and providing limited incentives for citizens not to engage in, or benefit from, organised crime. Examples of country-specific findings include the following:
- Out of the range of Nepal’s illicit economies, countering environmental crime promises greatest policy payoffs, while prioritizing countering drug production and trafficking the least benefit. Many interventions against human trafficking, a crime topic favoured by outside donors, have been ineffective.
- In Ghana, the trafficking of hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines is a serious governance challenge, particularly given the degree to which political and security actors at all levels have been involved in the trade.
- The capacity of Mozambique to respond effectively to both organised crime and corruption remains low. Significant amounts of development assistance have been invested in both anti-corruption efforts and countering organised crime, but an integrated strategy seems to have been lacking.
- Behavioural norms and the structural weaknesses within and beyond Sierra Leone’s borders that nurture organised criminal activity need to be addressed by integrated national, regional, and international efforts.
- Guyana’s entrenched political leadership and weak law and order has made its political environment vulnerable to corruption and involvement with organised criminal activity.
- In Jamaica, organised criminal gangs are linked to the government through electoral politics, urban security, government development contracts, and other public works projects.
The report suggests that development agencies address weaknesses identified in the broader governance framework, identify and prioritise organised crime actors and activities that do most harm in a given context, support deterrence rather than zero-tolerance strategies, and ensure that citizen needs and respect for human rights are central to proposed remedies. It proposes a programming framework based on:
- Protecting the political process
- Modernizing and strengthening law enforcement and the judiciary
- Supporting crime-sensitive economic and social policy development
- Engaging civil society and the media
- Deepening the knowledge base
The report recommends deep assessment and analysis to determine the nature of organised crime in the country (at national and local levels), and how it interacts with government institutions and business and political elites within the country and broader region. This can allow for a better picture of knowing when to engage and what specifically within the five recommended areas to focus on. For example, indicators for assessing a country’s exposure to the risk of organised crime penetration and gauging the degree of state involvement in organised crime include: the existence of internal and external checks and balances; a strong culture of freedom of, and access to, information; a culture of asset disclosure among elected officials and political parties; the existence, strength, and independence of anti-corruption bodies; legislative drafting capacity; and citizen perceptions of organised crime or specific illicit activities. Development actors could:
- make more strategic use of political economy assessments and analytical tools
- use the report’s typology analysis framework, which groups relations between organised crime and politics into two broad typologies: enclave or mafia.
