Rival Views of Organised Crime

This research paper by Andre Standing examines the nature of organised crime, arguing that the term has become a muddled analytical concept in mainstream discourse. The author proposes replacing the concepts of 'organised crime' and 'white-collar crime' with the notion of 'illicit enterprise' to shift the analytical focus from criminal groups to specific commodity and service economies.

• The author argues that 'organised crime' is a muddled analytical concept in mainstream discourse, resulting from a combination of popular misconceptions regarding groups like the American Mafia and poor empirical research.
• The paper recommends replacing the terms 'organised crime' and 'white-collar crime' with the concept of 'illicit enterprise'. This shift is intended to move the analytical focus away from criminal groups and toward illegal economies as individual systems, specifically commodity and service economies.
• The monograph is structured into sections that construct four models of how crime is organised (based on visions of groups like La Cosa Nostra), provide a history of the mainstream definition of organised crime from the 1930s USA to the present, and critique the assumptions of the mainstream paradigm.
• While the work is theoretical, it incorporates case studies from Southern Africa to support the Institute for Security Studies' work in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. However, due to a lack of published material in the region, the Southern African focus is primarily a South African focus.

APA

Standing, A. (n.d.). Rival Views of Organised Crime. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-77-rival-views-of-organised-crime-andre-standing

Chicago

Standing, Andre. Rival Views of Organised Crime. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-77-rival-views-of-organised-crime-andre-standing.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Standing |first1=Andre |title=Rival Views of Organised Crime |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-77-rival-views-of-organised-crime-andre-standing |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{standingndrival, author = {Standing, Andre}, title = {{Rival Views of Organised Crime}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-77-rival-views-of-organised-crime-andre-standing}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }