Implications of Organized Crime in the National Security of the Western Balkans After the 1990. Case Study: Albania

By, MSc. Edmond MERDANI

Abstract

National and transnational organized crime today constitutes one of the most serious threats and challenges to the national security of Albania, of the countries in the region and beyond. The geographical position of the Balkan region, along with the region’s own problematics, such as its criminality and weak government structures, have turned the region not only in a shortcut to the criminal activity originating from Asia and the Middle East that heads for Western Europe, but also in an attractive and lucrative path in terms of the low risk it poses to criminal groups. This paper aims at providing a conceptual framework for the phenomenon of organized crime, by focusing on the issues that I have identified and considered as of serious importance to the Albania and region’s democratic values, political stability, social and economic development, as well as their security environment. In this context, I have argued that organized crime has political implications, largely due to its transnational nature, as it does not recognize state borders and thus ignores and challenges the state sovereignty. It also has economic implications, mainly associated with the criminal activity of money laundering, the informal economy it stimulates and the financial and economic destabilization it provokes. The study seeks to answer to the raised research questions through the analysis of the causes, factors, legal framework as well as of the strategies and measures taken by the respective countries and relevant institutions in the context of the fight against this phenomenon. On the other hand, in addition to the main theoretical approaches used to describe the phenomenon, the study analyses Albania’s security and crime policies and strategies by comparing them with those of the regional countries in order to highlight the similarities and differences.

How to cite: Merdani, E. (2021). Implications of organized crime in the national security of the Western Balkans after the 1990. case study: Albania. Jus &  Justicia, 15(1), 30–50.

https://doi.org/10.58944/zvue3561