The Challenges of Territorial Gangs: Civil Strife, Criminal Insurgencies and Crime Wars

Abstract

Transnational gangs challenge states in a variety of way. First, they transcend geographical and jurisdictional boundaries. Second, when left unchecked, they can erode the legitimacy of state institutions, co-opt state officials, and exceed state capacity to control their actions. A combination of crime, corruption, and impunity can empower criminal enterprises—gangs and criminal cartels—at the expense of the state. Finally, transnational crime blurs the distinctions between crime and war, local and global, and state and non-state violence.1 This essay examines these challenges and the evolution of gangs and criminal cartel conflict.