This month, we present research on whistle-blower schemes in the fight against economic crime, Balochistan’s illicit markets, paramilitary violence and organised crime in war-to-peace transitions. We also explore politically feasible SSR responses to organised crime (OC), test strategic communications combating it, and analyse civil society's role in addressing OC. Sign up for next month’s newsletter now!

Early findings from SOC ACE funded ‘Medellín demonstration project’ led by Professors Christopher Blattman and Santiago Tobón was picked up by local and national news in Colombia.

This month, we present research on whistle-blower schemes in the fight against economic crime, Balochistan’s illicit markets, paramilitary violence and organised crime in war-to-peace transitions. We also explore politically feasible SSR responses to organised crime (OC), test strategic communications combating it, and analyse civil society's role in addressing OC. Sign up for next month’s newsletter now!

This month, we present research on the impact of the Taliban's resurgence on Afghanistan's opium trade, the nexus between paramilitaries, illicit economies, and organised crime in borderland regions of Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Colombia. It also covers illicit financial flows in East and Southern Africa and the Mekong, SOC-related sanctions and political will, new SOC metrics for accountability in Medellín, and a framework testing organised crime as irregular warfare. Finally, it examines the consequences of organised crime and illegal trade displacement in Eurasia due to Russia's war against Ukraine. Sign up for next month’s newsletter now!

These two research papers contribute to the comparative research phase of a broader project aiming to understand the challenges associated with countering Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs). In the initial phase of the project, Reitano (2022) proposed the ‘IFFs pyramid’ framework, to explain the three dominant means by which IFFs are enabled, moved and held: financial flows, trade flows and informal flows. This phase tests and applies the ‘IFFs pyramid’, in the context of East and southern Africa and the Mekong region.

This paper is the second of a three-part series exploring the nexus between paramilitaries, illicit economies and organised crime. This research paper examines the nexus between paramilitaries, illicit economies and organised crime in frontier regions, through detailed case study analysis of these phenomena in the borderlands of Afghanistan, Myanmar and Colombia.

This research paper set out to capture the implications of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 for the local realities of the opium trade and the diverse actors whose lives are entangled in the country’s pervasive drug economy. The paper has a focus on two important localities for the country’s opium economy: Helmand and Nangarhar.

This research paper is the first of a three-part series exploring the nexus between paramilitaries, illicit economies and organised crime. The paper advances a conceptual framework for analysing the nexus in borderland and frontier regions and outlines how this concept advances the growing body of recent literature on militias and paramilitaries.

This month, we present research on the impact of Afghanistan’s drug trade on its neighbours; the political economy of gold mining in Takhar, Afghanistan; militarised approaches to organised crime; and security sector reform (SSR) and organised crime. Sign up for next month’s newsletter now!

This annotated bibliography includes research and evidence on militarised approaches to combating serious and organised crime (SOC) in various contexts. Militarised approaches involve using military forces or methods to deter and disrupt SOC groups. These approaches have been employed in states facing high levels of violence, fragile and conflict-affected contexts, post-conflict settings, and against threats like piracy and wildlife crime.

This paper examines the emerging dynamics, risks and opportunities within Afghanistan from the perspective of the gold mining industry in the north-eastern province of Takhar. While Afghanistan has relatively small value deposits compared with other resources, insights into the evolution of political economies surrounding the gold sector, its role in the economy and foreign intervention, shed light on broader dynamics of the extractives industry in the country.

This research examines the impact of Afghanistan’s drug trade on the country’s neighbours, with a particular focus on the three countries, Pakistan, Iran, and Tajikistan, which account for the highest volumes of narcotics that transit from Afghanistan. It explores policy options in the post-August 2021 context, and considers the prospects of and challenges to greater regional cooperation.

This month, we present research on migrant smuggling, targeted violence and illicit economies in Afghanistan; Third country jurisdictions in sanctions evasion and avoidance (SEA) related to Russia's war against Ukraine and Information manipulation and organised crime with case studies from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Prigozhin and Wagner, Transnistria, the Kremlin's capture of the media and Albania. Sign up for next month’s newsletter now!

Researchers from SOC ACE and GI-ACE were runners-up in the Economic and Social Research Council’s Celebrating Impact Prize competition 2023, for their research on Countering Kleptocracy.

This research uncovers common patterns in Afghan migration and the impact of the Taliban's return on human mobility. It draws on interviews with migrants, smugglers, and financiers, revealing an entrenched illicit economy essential to Afghanistan and beyond. This study aims to analyse post-Kabul human mobility; and investigate the role of informal value transfer systems (IVTS) in clandestine migration.

This paper investigates how organised crime groups manipulate information in Eastern Europe, uncovering their use of technology, media ownership, and connections to the global political economy. This sheds light on the threats posed by non-state actors in information manipulation and offers an analytical framework for future study.

This month we’re excited to launch our first ever SOC ACE newsletter. In this issue we spotlight SOC ACE activity regarding our research on Russia, in light of the Ukraine invasion. We’ve highlighted a new research project on Colombia’s ‘Total Peace’ policy, and a new analytical framework for countering organised crime! If you haven’t already, sign up for next month’s newsletter now!

This paper concentrates on the role of third countries in sanctions evasion and explores the role of thirteen third countries in SEA relating to sanctions imposed on Russia since the invasion of Ukraine. The report reveals that third countries are more likely to engage in SEA where they are economically dependent on the target country, have trade and commercial capacities to engage in SEA and interests in doing so.

This new paper presents an analytical framework designed for irregular warfare challenges, to aid assessment of, as well as response to, organised crime. This framework – the Framework of Analysis and Action – builds on an instructional method long used within the College of International Security Affairs (CISA), at the U.S. National Defense University.

This new paper examines the practices used to evade sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, focusing on the import–export operations of Russia, Belarus, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. Sanctions intended to undermine Russia’s military capacity, have inadvertently bolstered informal trade networks fuelling its military funds.