Why do ethnopolitical organisations turn to crime?

Abstract

This paper empirically analyses the involvement of ethnopolitical organisations in criminal behaviour across time in two regions of the world – the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Drawing on the data from the Minorities at Risk Organizational Behavior data set, it contributes important insights to a literature on organisational crime that is dominated by case studies and small-N analysis, as well as reinvigorating the study of ethnopolitical organisations as actors in the analysis of organised crime. Our findings reveal that in both regions groups that engage in violence of some form were significantly more likely to engage in many kinds of criminal activity. Our analysis also finds that ideological orientation has a marginal impact, while economic grievances and diaspora connections were significant predictors of criminal activity for groups in the Middle East (but not Eastern Europe). In sum, this analysis suggests that the decision to engage in criminal activity is primarily dependent on the organisation’s internal attributes and external influences.