Global terrorism and organised crime

Convergence and general security implications

Abstract

This paper’s interest is in interrogating the extent to which global terrorism and organised criminality do converge. In spite of the basic differences between them in terms of motivations and methods, historical examples have indicated that terrorism and organized crime do converge in several ways. Indeed, some analysts think that both threats can no longer be studied in isolation. Thus, this paper seeks to explore the hypothesis of a crime-terror nexus. Three types of convergence are examined: involvement in criminal activities by terrorists, transformation of terrorists groups into hybrid or purely criminal organizations and cooperation between organized criminal organizations and terrorist groups. Finally, the paper made allusions to the cases of Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen, presented as examples of privileged scenarios for interaction between global terrorism and organized crime. As a theoretical paper, it does not set itself to establish a wholly new subject but to contribute to the debate that has been gaining interest in recent times.