The Changing Face of Organized Crime in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe

Kelly Hignett

Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 2010, vol. 18, issue 1, 71-88

Abstract: In the twenty years that have passed since the revolutions of 1989 and the collapse of communism across Central and Eastern Europe numerous fundamental changes have occurred across the region. One of the general trends associated with the post-communist transition has been rising levels of crime in general and organised crime in particular across countries in the region. Concerns about the perceived threat posed by increased levels of organised crime in Central and Eastern Europe became particularly prevalent in connection with European Union expansion to include countries from the region in 2004 and 2007. This paper seeks to analyse and explore the apparent 'explosion' of organised crime throughout Central and Eastern Europe in the aftermath of 1989, considering the relationship between the post-communist transition and the development of organised crime, and exploring the complex realities behind the evolution of organised crime in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe. This paper seeks to demonstrate that while the process of post-communist transition has facilitated a fundamental reshaping of organised crime in terms of its structure, composition and activities, the 'worst case' scenarios posited in relation to EU enlargement have not come to bear.

Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09651561003732520 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:cdebxx:v:18:y:2010:i:1:p:71-88

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/cdeb20

DOI: 10.1080/09651561003732520

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe is currently edited by Andrew Kilmister

More articles in Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().