Organized Crime and Terrorism

Chapter in The Handbook of the Criminology of Terrorism, Enrique Desmond Arias & Nazia Hussain, 2016.

The interactions between crime and terror have primarily been framed as constituting a nexus or continuum, implying that the two are discrete phenomena. Isolated from wider social, economic, and political contexts in which these activities come together, such a conceptualization results in a reified understanding of the two. Building on existing scholarship, this chapter presents an alternative analytical framework. It makes the case that crime‐terror relationship needs to be placed within a wider social context. The types of organizations and actors that engage in these activities, the reasons behind their associations with each other, and engagement of legitimate actors in state and society with crime and terrorism needs to be taken in account. Such an approach‐ that focuses on relationships among various actors within a specific context‐ will open up space for useful frameworks, offering a more nuanced understanding of connections between the two.