Organized crime and the challenge to democracy / edited by Felia Allum and Renate Siebert ; foreword by David Beetham.

First published in2003.Transferred to Digital Printing 2008.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Why is organized crime so successful? / Fabio Armao -- Mafia and anti-mafia: the implications for everyday life / Renate Siebert -- Transnational organized crime between myth and reality: the social construction of a threat / Monica Massari -- Organized crime, business and the state in post-Communist Russia / Sergei Plekhanov -- Drug-trafficking and the state: the case of Colombia / Sayaka Fukumi -- Transnational organized crime, security and the European Union / Wyn Rees -- 'Once upon a time in America': organized crime and civil society / Robert J. Kelly and Rufus Schatzberg -- Civil resistance: society fights back ... / Ercole Giap Parini -- For Christ's sake: organized crime and religion / Alessandra Dino -- Democracy and the gangs: the case of Marseilles / Paola Monzini -- Organized crime, politics and the judiciary in post-war Italy / Jean-Louis Briquet -- Mediated democracy: Yakuza and Japanese political leadership / Eiko Maruko -- Conclusion: organized crime and democracy: 'uncivil' or 'civil' society? / Felia Allum and Renate Siebert.

This work investigates the paradoxical situation whereby organized crime groups, authoritarian in nature and anti-democratic in practice, perform at their best in democratic countries. It uses examples from Russia, South Africa, South America, the US and the EU, and includes a case study of Italy.