In addition to being a hotspot of organised crime itself owing to the infamous Balkan Route, over the previous decades organised crime groups from the Western Balkans region have extended their operations on a global scale. From having presence in the Americas, being heavily involved in smuggling cocaine to Europe, to the series of assassinations in South Africa linked to the Balkan criminal underground, these groups have become some of the most notorious criminal enterprises in the world. Having grown from small-scale crooks to leading distributors of drugs in the Western Hemisphere, Balkan criminal gangs manage to punch far above their weight.<\/p>\n
This event aims to shed light on the reasons behind their success, the push and pull factors in the Balkans and the wider region that have enabled their rapid expansion and the socio-economic factors that played a major role. The violent dissolution of Yugoslavia resulted in successor states with links between the governments and organised crime, an endemic peculiarity of the Western Balkans that exists to this day. On the other hand, shared linguistic and cultural traits between the organised crime groups brought them closer together and facilitated cooperation in an environment where law enforcement agencies were unable to confront them.<\/p>\n
A group of academics, civil society activists and policy experts will share their views on these issues with the intention to unpack the playbook of Western Balkans organised crime groups and the reasons behind their global prominence.<\/p>\n
Speakers:<\/p>\n
Chair:<\/p>\n