Mafia war: simulating conflict escalation in criminal organizations

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 139-178
Author(s):  
Martin Neumann ◽  
Ulf Lotzmann ◽  
Klaus G. Troitzsch
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 167-188
Author(s):  
Abdu Mukhtar Musa

As in most Arab and Third World countries, the tribal structure is an anthropological reality and a sociological particularity in Sudan. Despite development and modernity aspects in many major cities and urban areas in Sudan, the tribe and the tribal structure still maintain their status as a psychological and cultural structure that frames patterns of behavior, including the political behavior, and influence the political process. This situation has largely increased in the last three decades under the rule of the Islamic Movement in Sudan, because of the tribe politicization and the ethnicization of politics, as this research reveals. This research is based on an essential hypothesis that the politicization of tribalism is one of the main reasons for the tribal conflict escalation in Sudan. It discusses a central question: Who is responsible for the tribal conflicts in Sudan?


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-97
Author(s):  
Dedi Sumanto

Conflicts can be dangerous or may even benefit a relationship, depending on how they are resolved. Because conflict creates strong emotions, emotions are not suitable as a basis for constructive problem solving. Conflict escalation rarely benefits a relationship, especially if it creates selfishness, stubbornness, and withdrawal from relationships. What's worse, conflicts can lead to physical disputes and actual violence, a community can work together, but it can be that at other times the community that has worked together can turn into social conflict. Conversely, people who initially conflict can change to work together for a certain time. For that social processes that occur are very dynamic, these conditions are very dependent on the power management model that runs in the community concerned thus interpreting the conflict based on the causes of conflict are: specific behaviors, norms and personal roles and dispositions. Conflict can also occur in the name of religion, caused by several factors including: superficial religious knowledge, fanaticism, religion as a doctrine, symbols, religious figures, history, fighting for surge.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 2091-2100
Author(s):  
Venelin Terziev ◽  
Hristo Bonev

This article outlines the three main prostitution organization types as well as hierarchical structures in criminal organizations dealing with human trafficking, prostitution and sexual exploitation. Several major categories of personages are directly involved in organized crime groups. The main indicators for assessing the prostitution prevention are defined and the principles for system management and management are justified. The three factors of prostitution management - psychological, social and financial - are outlined. An evaluation of the prostitution market has been carried out and the functions of the domestic and external markets for paid sex are described. The data provided gives us a reason to assume that the consumption of sexual services is increasing.


Author(s):  
Samuel Andrew Hardy

Abstract Rescue has long been a defense for the removal of cultural property. Since the explosion of iconoclasm in West Asia, North Africa, and West Africa, there has been a growing demand for cultural property in danger zones to be “rescued” by being purchased and given “asylum” in “safe zones” (typically, in the market countries of Western Europe and North America). This article reviews evidence from natural experiments with the “rescue” of looted antiquities and stolen artifacts from across Asia and Europe. Unsurprisingly, the evidence reaffirms that “rescue” incentivizes looting, smuggling, and corruption, as well as forgery, and the accompanying destruction of knowledge. More significantly, “rescue” facilitates the laundering of “ordinary” illicit assets and may contribute to revenue streams of criminal organizations and violent political organizations; it may even weaken international support for insecure democracies. Ultimately, “rescue” by purchase appears incoherent, counter-productive, and dangerous for the victimized communities that it purports to support.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002200272110267
Author(s):  
Robert A. Blair ◽  
Nicholas Sambanis

Beger, Morgan, and Ward (BM&W) call into question the results of our article on forecasting civil wars. They claim that our theoretically-informed model of conflict escalation under-performs more mechanical, inductive alternatives. This claim is false. BM&W’s critiques are misguided or inconsequential, and their conclusions hinge on a minor technical question regarding receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves: should the curves be smoothed, or should empirical curves be used? BM&W assert that empirical curves should be used and all of their conclusions depend on this subjective modeling choice. We extend our original analysis to show that our theoretically-informed model performs as well as or better than more atheoretical alternatives across a range of performance metrics and robustness specifications. As in our original article, we conclude by encouraging conflict forecasters to treat the value added of theory not as an assumption, but rather as a hypothesis to test.


Author(s):  
Viviana García Pinzón ◽  
Jorge Mantilla

Abstract Based on the conceptualizations of organized crime as both an enterprise and a form of governance, borderland as a spatial category, and borders as institutions, this paper looks at the politics of bordering practices by organized crime in the Colombian-Venezuelan borderlands. It posits that contrary to the common assumptions about transnational organized crime, criminal organizations not only blur or erode the border but rather enforce it to their own benefit. In doing so, these groups set norms to regulate socio-spatial practices, informal and illegal economies, and migration flows, creating overlapping social orders and, lastly, (re)shaping the borderland. Theoretically, the analysis brings together insights from political geography, border studies, and organized crime literature, while empirically, it draws on direct observation, criminal justice data, and in-depth interviews.


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