Organized crime and security : drug cartels : the global capacity of a rising security threat

• Název práce v češtině: Organizovaný zločin a bezpečnost : drogové kartely: celosvětově narůstající bezpečnostní hrozba
• Název v anglickém jazyce: Organized crime and security : drug cartels : the global capacity of a rising security threat
• Klíčová slova: Mezinárodní organizovaný zločin, bezpečnostní hrozba, obchod s drogami, drogové kartely, Kolumbie, Mexiko, sekuritizace, kokain, válka proti drogám, legalizace, dekriminalizace.
• Klíčová slova anglicky: Transnational Organized Crime, Security Threat, Drug Trafficking, Drug Cartels, Colombia, Mexico, Securitization, Cocaine, War Against Drugs, Legalization, Decriminalization.
• Akademický rok vypsání: 2010/2011
• Typ práce: diplomová práce
• Jazyk práce: angličtina
• Ústav: Katedra mezinárodních vztahů (23-KMV)
• Vedoucí / školitel: PhDr. Miloš Balabán, Ph.D.
• Řešitel: skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem
• Datum přihlášení: 29.09.2011
• Datum zadání: 29.09.2011
• Datum a čas obhajoby: 03.09.2013 09:00
• Místo konání obhajoby: IPS FSV UK, U kříže 8/661 158 00 Praha 5 – Jinonice
• Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: 31.07.2013
• Datum proběhlé obhajoby: 03.09.2013
• Oponenti: doc. PhDr. Vít Střítecký, M.Phil., Ph.D.

Zásady pro vypracování

METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN
I decided to time frame my research to the time spectrum
between the years 1990 and 2010 for being the period in which the
Colombian and Mexican drug trafficking organizations have
experienced major changes that have brought the issue to its actual
state. To achieve my purpose I will resort to a compared case study
(across-case analysis) between the Colombian and Mexican cases.
Comparing the actions and development of Colombian drug cartels
during the 1990’s with their Mexican counterparts during the 2000s will
possibly show me as a result, a certain pattern of how both sets of
organizations have accomplished and will further accomplish their
expansion into other markets such as the U.S. and Europe. During the
1990s cartels such as the Medellin Cartel extended their power scope
around the world, in our days is the Sinaloa and other Mexican cartels.
Comparing both cases I attempt to reveal the patterns that cartels follow
from their local expansion to the global extent that they have already
achieved and will possibly further develop. With these results I will try to
create a pattern on how these organizations tend to behave and how
they actually extend their scope. Then I will analyze data on what has
been done policy wise, focusing especially in the EU, and reveal if the
policies actually tackle the patterns previously established.
I will resort to an intensive analysis of qualitative and quantitative
data that will give me the tools to answer my research questions. To
collect my data I plan to resort to official documents, governmental
statements, governmental data, NGOs, international organizations
dedicated to the study of organized crime, international organizations
dedicated to combat organized crime, maps of smuggling routes and
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other information available in trusted sources. The media will be also
one of my main sources for being the only source able to follow the
internal development of the drug cartels by means of investigation,
informants or infiltrated individuals. I also plan to make a short field trip
to Colombia in which I attempt to gather information from reliable
sources such as governmental and non-governmental organizations, as
well as individuals with a high degree of expertise on my topic. Finally, I
will resort to the secondary analysis of other studies that have gathered
systematic and reliable information on Latin American drug cartels.
A shortage of my work will be of course the fact that it is extremely
difficult to find first hand information from cartels or their members and
other classified information. For this reason I have planed to resort to
legal statements and books published by ex-cartel members, which will
give me an extra inside into the organizations, and of course only data
made public by either government.
In the first part of my work I will exposed the development of the
drug trafficking business in both Mexico and Colombia, focusing on the
initial facts that lead to today’s strong economical and criminal ties
between different Colombian drug cartels and their Mexican counter
parts. For this part I will of course expose past and present drug cartels
information, such as economical power, criminal ties, expansion and
territorial power, in short: their modus operandi in the American and
European continents, giving especial attention to the turf wars in today’s
Mexico which have left thousands of deaths and IDPs. This part will be
focused on the similarities that appear to be between the Colombian
and Mexican cases, for example the corruption strategies and the
methods used to terrorize and control the population employed in both
cases. Here I attempt to formulate a pattern that if correct will describe
the further development of the Mexican case based on the Colombian
experience during the last two decades. I do this because both cases
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seem to have extreme similarities that cannot be and should not be
perceived as coincidence. The cultural and social backgrounds shared
by both nations make the case especially prompt to follow a pattern in
subsequent years.
The second part of my research will be focused on the
implications of the cartels in the United States and Europe (as well as
other regions such as Northern Africa which has been used as a transit
region). Analyzing the policies and measures taken to tackle the issue
of drug trafficking, taking as an example the Plan Merida and the Plan
Colombia and policies introduced by the European Union. In this part of
my work I attempt to analyze data specifically related to the expansion
of drug cartels into Europe. Following this path, I attempt to analyze
data available on the presence of the cartels in the Schengen area, for
example Spain, and of course making especial emphasis on the
potential presence of Latin American drug cartels in the Czech
Republic. I would also like to analyze the possible links between Latin
American drug cartels and other international criminal organizations, for
instance the Afghani cartels, ties that if at all existent, will pose an even
greater threat to global security than just organized crime does, this
could mean the creation of an international drug-terrorism net, which will
pose huge risks for the USA, NATO, the EU and other countries were
the cartels operate.
The central goal of my work is to unveil the relation between
Colombian and Mexican drug cartels and the influence of this relation
on the current expansion of the Mexican cartels operations throughout
the world. I argue that the ties built during the 1990s between
Colombian and Mexican drug lords are the foundation for today’s drug
cartel’s power in Mexico. I further argue that the denial and negative of
the Mexican government to admit any similarities between today’s
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Mexico and 1990s Colombia has given the cartels even more power,
because the population of vast Mexican areas is practically under
complete cartel control, and the government denying this situation
makes itself unable to act and prevent Mexico from becoming a failed
state if is not a failed state already, something that will pose massive
threats for global economic and security stability, because Mexico not
only shares borders with the United States, but is also one of the fastest
growing economies in the world and it is a member of world economic
leading organizations such as the G20 group. Here lies the importance
of deepening our knowledge on its security situation and the possible
global threats arising from it.

Seznam odborné literatury

ALBANESE, Jay S. Organized Crime in Our Times, Sixth Edition. Burlington: Anderson Publishing 2010
ALBANESE, Jay S. The Causes of Organized Crime: Do Criminals Organize Around Opportunities for Crime or Do Criminal Opportunities Create New Offenders? Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice. 2000, Vol. 16; No. 4; pp. 409 – 423
BIBES, Patricia. Transnational Organized Crime and Terrorism: Colombia, a Case Study. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice. 2001, Vol. 17; No. 3;pp. 243 – 258
BROWN, Michael E. The International Dimensions of Internal Conflict.Cambridge: The MIT Press 1996
CHALK, Peter; RABASA, Angel. The Colombian Labyrinth: The Synergy of Drugs and Insurgency and its Implications for Regional Stability. Santa Monica, CA: RAND 2001
COOK, Colleen W. CRS Report For Congress. Mexico’s Drug Cartels. Analyst in Latin America Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division. Washington, D.C: Congressional Research Service, October 2007.
CORNELL, Svante E. The Interaction of Narcotics and Conflict. Journal of Peace Research. 2005, Vol. 42; No. 6; pp. 751 – 760
KLEEMANS, Edward R. Introduction to Special Issue: Organized Crime, Terrorism and European Criminology. European Journal of Criminology. 2008, Vol. 5; No.1; pp. 5-12
RYAN, Patrick J.; RUSH, George E. Understanding Organized Crime in Global Perspective: A Reader. London: SAGE Publications, Inc. 1997
VARESE, Federico. Mafias On The Move: How Organized Crime Conquers New Territories. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press 2011
U.S. Department of Justice, National Drug Intelligence Centre, National Drug Threat Assessment 2010, February 2010.
U.S. Department of Justice, National Drug Intelligence Centre, National Drug Threat Assessment 2006, October 2007.

Předběžná náplň práce

Tato diplomová práce představuje analýzu latinskoamerických organizací obchodujících s drogami nebo drogových kartelů, jak jsou běžně známy, se zaměřením na konkrétní případy kolumbijských a mexických drogových kartelů. Porovnáním těchto dvou případových studií jsem dospěla k názoru, že dnešní mexické drogové kartely získaly svou sílu díky následování tří velkých kolumbijských kartelů, které existovaly v letech 1980 až 1990.

Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce

This graduate thesis presents an analysis on Latin American drug trafficking organizations or drugs cartels, as they are commonly known, focusing on the cases of Colombian and Mexican drug cartels. By comparing these two case studies, I suggest that today’s Mexican drug trafficking organizations have gained their momentum and incommensurable strength by following the footsteps of the big three Colombian drug cartels that existed between the 1980s and 1990s.