Gangsters and Patriots: Organized Crime as a Neglected Nonstate Determinant of Separatist Success

• In Event: 463 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 25. Violence and the State

Abstract

I process-trace host state, separatist movement and organized criminal relations in Serbia and Georgia, 1989-2012. I argue that the role of organized crime evolved differently in the two cases, explaining different levels of success for the two separatist movements in Kosovo (highly successful) and South Ossetia (less successful).

Organized crime in Serbia evolved from the role of bystander, to divisor et imperator, to tertius gaudens; in contrast, organized crime in Georgia evolved from the role of tertius gaudens, to non-partisan mediator, to bystander. These differing trajectories – process-traced through three phases – account for the greater success of Kosovo’s separatist movement than South Ossetia’s.

Author

• Danilo Mandic, Harvard University