Narco-Terrorism - A Risk Assessment of Global Terrorist Linkages to the International Drug Trade

Abstract

Global security analysts have exhaustively examined the nexus between terrorist networks and the international trade in drugs. This article revisits global narco-terrorism and its theories and empirically used various narco-terror groups in different regions to provide a global risk assessment and the linkages of these groups to the international drug trade. The results buttressed the notion that linkages and cooperation of terrorist and organized criminal groups facilitated effective operation that is continually inflicting havoc and confusion in an unrestricted evolutionary global framework, since these groups have made logistical inroads through exploitation of growing global inequalities, deepened poverty, deteriorating standards of living, and the debt challenges facing the developing world. Following a global risk assessment, the theoretical argument proposes the adoption of a macro-economic approach in the framework of a global risk management in the evaluation, monitoring and implementation of policy to effectively combat the challenges of global narco-terrorism.