Publication

This monograph addresses the subject of the multifaceted nature and predominant role of gangs operating as proxies in the modern unbalanced global security environment. The author examines a few premier cases that illustrate how populists and neo-populists; the new left, new socialists or 21st-century socialists; rightwing-criminal nonstate actors; and other nonstate and state actors use 'agitators,' gangs, 'super gangs,' and/or popular militias for national, regional or global hegemonic purposes. Specific examples include paramilitary gang permutations in Colombia; al-Qaida's strategic and hegemonic use of political-criminal gangs to coerce substantive change in Spanish and other western European foreign and defense policy.