Italian Organised Crime: Mafia Associations and Criminal Enterprises

The article reviews the different forms of organised crime in Italy. To begin with, it focuses on the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, Italy's two largest and most powerful mafia associations. With their centuries-old histories, articulated structures, sophisticated ritual and symbolic apparatuses and claim to exercise a political dominion, these associations have few parallels in the world of organised crime. In its second section, the article considers other groups and networks that are--with varying degrees of justification--also routinely described as organised crime: these range from the Neapolitan camorra to Apulian organised crime and the so-called new 'foreign mafie' and other criminal entrepreneurs. Whereas the new Italian and foreign players are likely to expand their activities on Italy's illegal markets, the future of Cosa Nostra and the 'Ndrangheta is more uncertain and largely depends on the decisions made by the public administrations.     

Organised Crime in East Central Europe: The Czech Republic,Hungary and Poland

Recent developments in East Central Europe have made countries in the region increasingly attractive to organised crime. The development of organised crime in ECE is seen as a significant problem with global implications. The roots of organised crime in ECE date back to the 1970s, but conditions after the revolutions of 1989 led to an influx of foreign-based gangs into the region. This has resulted in the emergence of organised crime that is predominantly international in character. Gangs have established strategic alliances to organise operations spanning three continents. The countries of ECE have been fighting back against organised crime and significant advances have been made. Continued criminal operations through the region, however, are perceived as a threat on a global scale. The accession of the Czech republic, Hungary and Poland into the EU in May 2004 will provide a clear litmus test for how successful these attempts have been to date.     

MERIT VERSUS KINSHIP: A CATEGORY MISTAKE? THE CASE OF THE PHILIPPINE CIVIL SERVICE

Acceptance of merit's pivotal role in establishing and maintaining effective bureaucracies has become second nature. In this paper I explore the association between merit and kinship in the Philippine civil service, although the conclusions that emerge are not peculiar either to the case of the Philippines or to the ‘developing’ world in general. I argue that merit is no less social than kinship; that its meaning for actors is broader, and the value of kinship and other ‘traditional’ social categories of behavior greater, than commentators and reformers often allow for. Indeed, when merit is narrowly defined (as it so often must be for practical reasons) and its complex dimensions ignored, it is socially divisive, produces deep inequalities, and leaves organizations less flexible and less capable of innovation. I suggest that, however paradoxical it might seem, more effective, humanitarian, flexible, and creative organizations thrive in what is often portrayed as an unsatisfactory transitional state between third‐world informality and Weberian‐style formality. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organised Informality and Suitcase Trading in the Pearl River Delta Region

ABSTRACT

Suitcase trade is a common activity along state borders in Asia. Existing scholarship has often viewed such suitcase trade as locally embedded activities characterised by informality. This article contends that this perception underestimates the diversity and complexity of suitcase trade. This is illustrated with a case study of the Pearl River Delta region of southern China, where thousands of suitcase traders carry goods across the borders between mainland China and its two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. Several patterns of operation run in parallel, ranging from petty traders working alone to highly-organised group operators. While each individual transaction is small scale and based on informal networks, the entire chain of operations is run by syndicates that are highly organised, commercial, with well-defined divisions of labour, and on a large scale. We describe such a combination of organisational competence and informal networks as “organised informality.” The concept allows us to expand the analytical horizon to cover those cross-border exchanges that incorporate modern commercial practices in otherwise non-formal settings. It also bridges the oft-criticised dichotomies of formal-informal and licit-illicit.     

Ambiguities of xenophobia in a border town: inner city informal traders and Ekasi shopkeepers in the city of East London,South Africa

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the livelihoods, experiences and identities of immigrant informal traders and shopkeepers in the Buffalo City Metropolitan area, which encompasses the centres of East London, Mdantsane and King Williams Town. We primarily use a socio-spatial perspective to analyse informal activity, and offer a particular perspective on how informality has encouraged a type of ‘informal citizenry’ among traders. We argue that informal trading has a very particular history in the region, and that East London’s notoriety as a ‘border city’ and a regional frontier has created a fractured space, which is best expressed through the experiences of migrants and entrepreneurs. We point out that informality is a driver of economic empowerment and equality among traders, but also of xenophobia and difference.     

Markets at sacred sites: the globalized mobility and informality of the Armenian religious fairs

ABSTRACT

Along with other globalizing forces such as migration and proselytism, religious markets have played a key role in the transformation of religious practices in Armenia. This article focuses on the intersection of mobility and markets through mobile fairs, which are temporarily organized at shrines on pilgrimage days. Market vendors tend to travel from shrine to shrine across Armenia throughout the year, each following his or her own trajectory. In this article I examine how such markets are organized, how and by whom they are run and controlled, how small-scale mono-confessional markets become part of transnational globalization processes, and how the marketplace is embedded in the pilgrimage ritual, changing and modernizing its traditional meanings and structure.