Getting Smart and Scaling Up: The Impact of Organized Crime on Governance in Developing Countries. A Desk Study of Sierra Leone
Abstract
This desk study provides an important effort to review the scope of organized crime and the nature of the threats its different variations pose to governance and broader peace and security in Sierra Leone, and highlights where some of the most important vulnerabilities to organized crime still lie.
The paper is divided into three parts. Section I provides a brief overview of the political, institutional, and socioeconomic landscape in Sierra Leone. It examines internal as well as external pressures affecting Sierra Leone’s political settlement including, for instance, processes in which contending groups determine the distribution of power and wealth. Section II focuses on the nature and scope of organized crime, with particular emphasis on cocaine trafficking, cannabis cultivation, and illegal mining and logging. Section III addresses domestic and international responses to organized crime, trafficking, and corruption as the primary facilitating factor for large-scale illicit activity. This includes insights on challenges and opportunities for responding to organized crime and its impact on governance, and concludes by identifying a number of steps that could be taken to counter the pernicious effects of organized crime in the country.
Citation
Walker, S.; Burchert, E. Getting Smart and Scaling Up: The Impact of Organized Crime on Governance inDeveloping Countries. A Desk Study of Sierra Leone. Center on International Cooperation, New York University, New York, USA (2013) 36 pp.
Links