CSS Evening Talk: The Evolution of Organized Crime and its Linkage to Terrorism

On 6 September 2018, the CSS held an Evening Talk on “The evolution of organized crime and its linkage to terrorism”. Dr. Mark Shaw, Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, and Dr. Prem Mahadevan, Senior Researcher at the CSS, provided an overview of the international aspects of the subject before exploring its implications for Europe, specifically in light of the recent migrant crisis. Both speakers underlined that cooperation between terrorist organizations and organized crime has become more important in recent years, especially in developing countries. Growing illegal markets that have increasingly become globalized reinforce this trend. Combating the crime-terror nexus is often complicated by the fact that counter measures usually take place at the local level while terrorists and criminals operate within international networks. Promoting international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and organized crime is therefore urgently needed.