NCJ Number
187268
Date Published
1999
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This article examines Russian protection rackets and the appropriation of law and order.
Abstract
The article attempts an anthropological study of the political-economic logic obtained in Russian bandit groups, in particular their discourse and practice of their own "law" and the emergence of the protection racket as their central activity. Although most gangs obtain money from extortion, theft, and other sources at the bottom, through smuggling, the drug trade, financial swindles, and investment in casinos and banks at the highest level, the street protection racket is the most stable source of income. The article concludes that, when a state establishes or transforms itself primarily in terms of an economic rationale, before a constitutional or a legal one, the law may be up for definition and appropriation. The "law" of the bandits becomes a "culture" to which others may be attracted or repelled. However, the bandits' "law" is really aimed at regulating themselves, and fails utterly when faced with tasks such as general taxation and state services. While bandits may (and do) infiltrate the state and elected institutions, if they are to take part in the reconstruction of the state, (regaining by the state of full control over the means of violence), they must acquire a new sense of law. Notes, references