Populism, 21st-century socialism and corruption in Venezuela

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita López Maya
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
System State ◽  
State Structure ◽  
Transnational Organized Crime ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
City Councils ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
The Relationship

This article seeks to explore the relationship between populism, 21st-century socialism, and the emergence of what has been referred to as an ‘ estado delincuente’ (criminal state), in the case of Venezuela. That is, a state structure permeated with transnational organized crime mafias in the executive and the judiciary, in the financial system, the prosecutor’s office, the police, the armed forces, the prison system, state-owned companies, governorships, and city councils, among other state institutions. First, I review conceptual aspects of populism to understand how this served as the basis for creating the postulates of 21st-century socialism, which promoted the institutional destruction of Venezuelan democracy and created the conditions for the unbridled dissemination of state corruption. Second, emblematic cases of white-collar and blood crimes, nepotism and other corrupt activities are discussed to provide an idea of the magnitude of the issues that permeate the state apparatus. To conclude, I provide a critical summary of the consequences of this way of doing politics in contemporary Venezuela.

Organized Crime in Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Swanström ◽  
Christina Wenngren
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Black Market ◽  
Criminal Networks ◽  
Transnational Organized Crime ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Tax Returns ◽  
Fresh Perspective ◽  
Drugs And Crime

Transnational organized crime is part and parcel of the modern, globalized economy. The black market has irrefutable influence over both economic and political structures. It corrodes, corrupts, and coopts the institutions with which it comes into contact. Features that arise as a side effect of organized criminal activity also impact economic, social, and political developments. Isolated approaches aimed at counteracting criminal networks have proved ineffective, necessitating a fresh perspective on foreign policy-based solutions. A central difficulty of researching organized crime is the opaque nature of criminal networks, whose members prefer to operate in the shadows. The underworld does not owe accountability to any outsiders, nor do crime syndicates generally file tax returns. International bodies like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime are forced to rely on the reports of member states, which are often subject to distortion. This makes accurate assessment of the extent and impact of organized crime difficult, to say the least. Part of what makes the black market difficult to combat is the malleable approach of criminal networks. They employ a variety of strategies to pursue their illicit activity and will quickly adapt to the given strength or weakness of their host state. These strategies manifest themselves as either evasion, confrontation, or infiltration of state institutions. All of these strategies undermine legitimate sociopolitical structures, making it imperative to implement effective foreign policy initiatives that fight the trade as a whole.

Globalization and the Emergence of Violent Non-state Actors: The Case of Human Trafficking

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Zhidkova
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
The State ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Security Threat ◽  
Transnational Organized Crime ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis study examines the impact of globalization on the emergence of human trafficking as a transnational security threat. The author discusses the relationship between globalization and violent non-state actors (VNSAs), seeing human trafficking as one of VNSAs threatening the state in the age of globalization. The erosion of state sovereignty and emergence of transnational organized crime are analyzed in an attempt to understand the role of globalization in transforming human trafficking into a transnational challenge.

scholarly journals Tindak Pidana Penyelundupan Manusia Dengan Modus Operandi Memperkerjakan PMI Ke Luar Negeri Ditinjau Dari UNCATOC Dan Hukum Internasional

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 1050
Author(s):  
Dikky Firsthio Damas ◽  
Fabian Bagaskara Sugianto ◽  
Randy Asmoro Dwi Purnomo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Migration ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
Transnational Organized Crime ◽  
The World ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
The Relationship

People smuggling affects all regions of the world. Every year, thousands of immigrants and refugees try to leave their home countries and seek a better life in their destination countries. The purpose of this paper is to find out how the criminal act of people smuggling with the modus operandi of employing PMIs abroad in terms of UNCATOC and international law and what is the relationship between the crime of human smuggling and international migration if it is associated with international law. It can be concluded that the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime has a Protocol that is intended to combat smuggling by preventing, investigating and prosecuting violations, and by promoting international cooperation among States Parties to protect the human rights and other interests of smuggle.

scholarly journals Frontera colombo-ecuatoriana: gobernanza criminal

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-70
Author(s):  
Anthony Álvarez Durán
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Transnational Organized Crime ◽  
Criminal Organizations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Border Population

Criminal governance is a new object on the Colombian security-related investigation agenda. In Colombia, the constant presence of illegal groups affects regions far from urban centers. Based on the foregoing, the State has been supplanted in territorial control affecting binational ethnic communities on the border between Colombia and Ecuador. Empirical evidence shows that since the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, the presence of criminal governments defined by Lessing (2019) as the governance of criminal actors over populations within an economy, ethnic group or territory, has been increasing. The objective of this research proposal is to determine the factors that converge within the new dynamics of transnational organized crime after the FARC. To this end, the tentative question is the following: How is the relationship between regional and extra-regional criminal governments on the Colombian-Ecuadorian border configured with ethnic communities between 2016 and 2019? For methodological purposes, a review of the literature will be made under the conceptual framework of ‘criminal government’ proposed by Benjamin Lessing (2019). Indeed, analyzes of the border have been able to determine that the area is of strategic importance for criminal organizations. These groups are not exclusively dedicated to drug trafficking, but also to human trafficking, extortion, and fuel smuggling, factors by which criminal organizations compete or cooperate for control of the area through legitimacy within the border population.

scholarly journals Perspectives on the Militarization of Public Security in Contemporary Brazil

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1118-1133
Author(s):  
Luís Antônio Francisco de Souza ◽  
Henrique Aguiar Serra ◽  
Thaís Battibugli
Keyword(s):  
Organized Crime ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Public Security ◽  
Brazilian Government ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
Principles Of Justice ◽  
The Military ◽  
First Time ◽  
Urban Disorder

Brazil still has not fully accomplished procedural democracy, despite being a formal democracy funded on a federal constitution and on an organized judicial system. The country has not been able to foster the principles of justice, peace, development, and equity for most of the population, and the state apparatus is restricted regarding social control, transparency, and effectiveness of public policies. This scenario resulted in the rise of violence, criminality, organized crime, and urban disorder, which has led to the militarization of public security both with the improvement of the military police’s structure and with the presence of the armed forces performing public security activities. This process of militarization has increased in the last two years, and for the first time since 1985, the military managed to ascend to the most powerful positions in the Brazilian government. This article discusses the militarization of public security in Brazil, pointing to the risks of a new and enduring process of militarization of Brazilian society, which still suffers from limited rights and lack of constitutional guarantees. Brasil aún no ha alcanzado del todo la democracia procedimental, a pesar de ser una democracia formal fundada en una constitución federal y en un sistema judicial organizado. El país no ha sido capaz de fomentar los principios de justicia, paz, desarrollo e igualdad para la mayoría de la población, y el aparato estatal está limitado respecto al control social, la transparencia y la eficacia de las políticas públicas. Este panorama resultó en el aumento de la violencia, el crimen, el crimen organizado y el desorden urbano, lo cual ha llevado a la militarización de la seguridad pública, tanto con la mejora de la estructura de la policía militar como con la presencia de las fuerzas armadas en actividades de seguridad pública. El proceso de militarización ha aumentado en los dos últimos años, y, por primera vez desde 1985, los militares consiguieron alcanzar los puestos de poder más importantes en el gobierno de Brasil. El artículo se ocupa de la militarización de la seguridad pública en Brasil, apuntando a los peligros de un nuevo y duradero proceso de militarización de la sociedad brasileña, la cual aún sufre de derechos limitados y de una falta de garantías constitucionales.

26. Guatemala

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Sieder
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Party System ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Historical Trends ◽  
Transnational Organized Crime ◽  
Weak Party

This chapter examines Guatemala’s underdevelopment in the context of social, economic, cultural, and political rights. It first provides an introduction to poverty and multiple inequalities in Guatemala before discussing patterns of state formation in the country. It then considers the 1996 peace accords, which represented an attempt to reverse historical trends, to ‘engineer development’, and to secure the human rights of all Guatemalans. It also explores human security and development in Guatemala and identifies the main contemporary causes of the country’s persistent underdevelopment: a patrimonialist and predatory state underpinned by a strong, conservative private sector, an extremely weak party system, the continued influence of active and retired members of the armed forces in politics, entrenched counterinsurgency logics, and the increasing presence of transnational organized crime.

Wenn stadtpolitische Bewegungen das Terrain des Staats betreten

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (191) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Diesselhorst
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
City Government ◽  
Housing Policies ◽  
Hierarchical Decision Making ◽  
Urban Social Movements ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
Hierarchical Decision ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This article discusses the struggles of urban social movements for a de-neoliberalisation of housing policies in Poulantzian terms as a “condensation of the relationship of forces”. Drawing on an empirical analysis of the “Berliner Mietenvolksentscheid” (Berlin rent referendum), which was partially successful in forcing the city government of Berlin to adopt a more progressive housing policy, the article argues that urban social movements have the capacity to challenge neoliberal housing regimes. However, the specific materiality of the state apparatus and its strategic selectivity both limit the scope of intervention for social movements aiming at empowerment and non-hierarchical decision-making.

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