Degterev D.A., Kovaleva D.V.
The role of Albania and Albanian organized crime in drug transit along the Balkan route: network analysis
// National Security.
2016. № 4.
P. 509-518.
DOI: 10.7256/2454-0668.2016.4.19364 URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=19364
Роль Албании и албанской организованной преступности в транзите наркотиков по «балканскому маршруту»: сетевой анализ
Degterev Denis Andreevich
PhD in Economics
Head of the department, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia; Docent, the department of Theory and History of International relations; the department of World Economy; Moscow State Institute of International Relations
117198, Russia, Moscow, Mikluho-Maklaya Street 10/2, office #301
Abstract: The object of this research is the participation of the Albanian organized crime in opiate transit by the so-called Balkan route (Afghanistan - Western Europe). The position of Albania in transit network and its role in drug trafficking is being analyzed. The authors thoroughly explore such topics as the structure and principles of the Albanian Mafia, mechanisms of decentralization and conspiracy of organized crime, problem of the analysis of its activity at national level, as well as structure and characteristics of the Balkan route of drug shipments to Europe. In the first part of this research the authors assume that Albania is one of the main drug distributers in Europe.The research is based on the method of network analysis, involving the construction of a network graph and identify the most influential actors by evaluating the betweenness centrality and closeness centrality expressing various measures to control a particular node on the network. Network analysis has been successfully applied to study the logic of attitudes and behavior in many informal or criminal organizations, including terrorist networks.The main conclusion of the study is the position of Albania as a network broker which has a direct access or an access through its Balkan neigbors to the two out of four largest European markets. The hypothesis on its status as of the country responsible for drug distribution in Europe has not been confirmed. The mechanisms of interaction with the neighboring countries of Albania and their access to European markets are analyzed. The special contribution of the authors is a research of organizational structure of the Albanian mafia and Balkan route through the prism of network analysis. The novelty of the research consists in the implementation of the network method towards cooperation of the cpuntries with regards to drugs distribution in Europe.
Keywords:
network analysis, Albania, drug trafficking, Balcan Route, quantitative methods of analysis, formal modeling, Albanian Mafia, international criminal networks, Europe, Cytoscape
References
1. Degterev D.A. Setevoi analiz mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii // Vestnik Sankt-Peterburgskogo universiteta. 2015. № 4. S. 119-138.
2. Drug Money: the illicit proceeds of opiates trafficked on the Balkan route. Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Vienna, 2015. 92 p.
3. Arsovska Jana, Craig Mark ‘Honourable’Behaviour and the Conceptualisation of Violence in Ethnic-Based Organised Crime Groups: An Examination of the Albanian Kanun and the Code of the Chinese Triads // Global Crime. 2006. Vol. 7 (2). P. 214-246.
4. Arsovska, Jana. Decoding Albanian Organized Crime: Culture, Politics, and Globalization (1st ed.). Oakland: University of California Press, 2015. 315 p.
5. Hofmann David C. & Gallupe Owen. Leadership protection in drug-trafficking networks // Global Crime. 2015. Vol. 16 (2). P. 123-138.
6. Gambetta, Diego. The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993. 251 p.
7. Vsemirnyi doklad o narkotikakh. Upravlenie Organizatsii Ob''edinennykh Natsii po narkotikam i prestupnosti. Vena, 2014.
8. European Drug Report: Trends and Developments 2015. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2015.
9. Kinsella D. The Black Market in Small Arms: Examining a Social Network // Contemporary Security Policy. 2006. Vol. 27 (1). P. 100-117.
10. Krebs V. Mapping Networks of Terrorist Cells // Connections. 2002. Vol. 24 (3). P.43–52.
11. Brams S., Mutlu H., Ramirez Sh. Influence in Terrorist Networks: From Undirected to Directed Graphs // Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. 2006. Vol. 29 (7). P.703–718.
12. Koschade S. A Social Network Analysis of Jemaah Islamiyah: The Applications to Counterterrorism and Intelligence // Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. 2006. Vol. 29 (6). P. 559–575.
13. Jordan J., Horsburgh N. Mapping Jihadist Terrorism in Spain // Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. 2005. Vol.28 (3). P.169–191.
14. Sageman M. Understanding Terror Networks. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.
15. Pedahzur A., Perliger A. The Changing Nature of Suicide Attacks: A Social Network Perspective // Social Forces. 2006. Vol. 84 (4). P. 1987–2008.
16. Stohl C., Stohl M. Networks of Terror: Theoretical Assumptions and Pragmatic Consequences // Communication Theory. 2007. Vol. 17 (2). P. 93–124.
17. Enders W., Su X. Rational Terrorists and Optimal Network Structure // Journal of Conflict Resolution. 2007. Vol. 51 (1). P.33-57.
18. Hartmann, Andreus-Renatus. New trends in the expansion of Western Balkan Organized Crime / Andreus-Renatus Hartmann; European Parliament Policy Department C-Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs. Brussels, 2012.
19. Afghanistan Opium Survey 2015. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Kabul). Vienna, 2015. 66 p.
20. The Illicit Drug Trade through South-Eastern Europe. Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Vienna, 2014. 142 p.
21. Brams S. Transaction Flows in the International System // American Political Science Review. 1966. Vol. 60 (4). P.880-898.
22. Ponomareva E.G. Proekt "Kosovo": mafiya, NATO i bol'shaya politika / E.G. Ponomareva // De Conspiratione. Sbornik monografii / Sost. A.I. Fursov. M.: KMK, 2013. C. 331-522
23. Bakharev D.V. Voprosy teorii i metodologii izucheniya prichin territorial'nykh razlichii prestupnosti v rabotakh sovetskikh kriminologov // Pravo i politika. 2014. № 10. C. 1590 - 1595. DOI: 10.7256/1811-9018.2014.10.13015.
Link to this article
You can simply select and copy link from below text field.
