Towards Understanding Africa's International Criminal Organizations as an Emerging Industry in a Globalizing World

Abstract

This paper is an assessment of the impacts and ramifications of International Criminal Organizations (ICOs) as they evolve into a contemporary organized industry in the globalizing arena. The ongoing shift of corporations moving from the national to the global stage has generally overlooked the resulting emergence of a single international market for ICOs. It is a truism that the state, as a result of this trend, has been compelled to yield significant authority over its sovereign domains, thus resulting in power shift from it to private actors. In this new international order, multinational corporations (MNCs) have remained the symbol of a globalizing world; but there are two other types of actors that are important but less recognized: ICOs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The thrust of this paper is on ICOs and their operations in Africa. Our substantive argument is that ICOs in Africa exhibit the same characteristics as those operating in other continents. They are all motivated by economic goals, and strive to attain them through the use technology, violence, coercion, intimidation, bribery and corruption, and cooperation to shape their political environment so as to diminish their need to compete in the international market.