Global system dynamics in the relationships Between organized crime and terrorist groups

Abstract

The international system has acquired great complexity in terms of the participation of violent non-state actors (VNSA). Currently, ethno-nationalist terrorist groups or extremist political ideologies coexist, which we could call "classic", with new terrorist organizations that have overcome the state logic and that manifest a vocation for international expansion, thanks to the global nature of their objectives. They question the maintenance of the state monopoly in international relations and have redesigned their relations with other VNSAs. In the case of organized crime, the "classic" criminal groups have expanded their spaces for internationalization, adapting to the global expansion of commerce and designing global operating strategies. They have thus overcome the more local schemes of classical organized crime, coexisting with other groups with smaller structures, but with a high level of flexibility and adaptation to the global world. In the following sections we will deal with the evolutionary elements of the international system that have favoured the transformation of the relationship between organized crime and terrorism. Specifically, the proliferation of private actors that condition, redesign and multiply the processes of international relations to achieve their objectives, even if these are contrary to the principles and norms of international law and the domestic law of States. We will also examine how the possibilities offered to these illegal and violent actors by the globalization process in terms of information transmission, communication and transport mechanisms, conditioning their objectives and action spaces; even when this leads them to adapt their structures and operational areas. Finally, we will analyse the development of armed conflict and the opportunities it offers to redefine the relations between terrorist groups and organized criminals. In places where violence has become a continuous structural phenomenon, different relational networks with civil society and greater opportunities to collaborate with other groups have been established, taking advantage of the absence of authorities that control the basic institutions of the state, monopolize the use of force and guarantee the safety of citizens.