Rethinking Insurgency: Criminality, Spirituality, and Societal Warfare in the Americas
Document Type
Article
Department
Politics and Economics (CGU)
Publication Date
2011
Disciplines
Defense and Security Studies | Political Science | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Behavioral Sciences
Abstract
Driven by globalization, Internet communications technology (ICT), and new economic forms the nature of states may be changing. Transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) – including what are commonly known as cartels – are early adopters to the new political/economic landscape. In addition to seeking to rule the illicit economy, criminal actors (networked cartels and gangs) are challenging states through high-order violence and leveraging nascent social/spiritual movements (narcocultura) to potentially usher in a new political dynamic. These violent non-state actors (criminal soldiers) are insurgent actors. They are waging new forms of insurgency – criminal and possibly spiritual – that have the potential to reconfigure states.
Rights Information
© 2011 Taylor and Francis
Terms of Use & License Information
DOI
10.1080/09592318.2011.625720
Recommended Citation
Sullivan, John P. and Bunker, Robert J. (2011). Rethinking insurgency: Criminality, spirituality and societal warfare in the Americas. [Special Issue: Criminal Insurgencies in Mexico and the Americas: The Gangs and Cartels Wage War.] Small Wars & Insurgencies, 22(5), 742-762. doi:10.1080/09592318.2011.625720
