Transnational Organized Crime: Impacts in Africa - Martin Ewi

Presentation from Session 4 of our Emerging Security Sector Leaders Seminar
Transnational organized crime (TOC) is a growing security challenge in Africa. There are many forms of TOC in Africa perpetrated by state and non-state actors with varying degrees of linkage. Human trafficking, arms trafficking, and non-renewable resource crimes are the three most widespread criminal markets, and overall, the COVID-19 pandemic increased the ability of those state-embedded actors who facilitate TOC to do so with less restrictive measures for accountable governance in place. Furthermore, TOC and political instability continue to be mutually reinforcing phenomena, and the commercial, criminal, and corrupt elements of TOC foster a parallel political economy that undermines economic development and state legitimacy.
Security sector actors in African states are well aware of the challenges of countering TOC, but also face the difficult task of devising responses that fit local contexts. Political economy frameworks can help emerging leaders understand where to start. Political economy is “the study of rational decisions in the context of political and economic institutions,” which shape various actors’ incentives to behave in certain ways. Taking a political economy approach involves understanding who the different actors are, identifying the strategies they may adopt based on African states’ criminal markets and vulnerabilities, and assessing how resilience factors can change organized criminal actors’ incentives to pursue TOC in particular places. There are many factors that shape people’s incentives to participate in illicit economies. Some key ones are the availability of alternative livelihoods, how legitimate the state and its laws are, and how the transparency and accountability of the security and justice sectors affect such legitimacy.
Ultimately, the most successful efforts to counter TOC are likely to involve security responses that feed into broader efforts to address the development- and governance-related drivers of organized crime.
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