Organised crime and corruption have become embedded in political and social milieus of many post-Soviet states. The masterclass will look at the developments in organised crime and political corruption in the countries of post-Soviet Eurasia trying to account for the variations in political‒criminal collusion.
It will look at how geographical location, types of political leadership, presence or absence of natural resources, and the engagement of international actors produce different forms of collusion. It then will discuss the purposes for which criminal leaders are usually enlisted by politicians and provides specific examples. It will be argued that the political‒criminal nexus is not a passing stage in state development and proves to be resilient even under the conditions of increasing government capacity and the formalising state.
Dr Alexander Kupatadze is a lecturer at King’s College London and Associate Fellow at Extra-legal Governance Institute, Oxford University. Prior to joining King’s College Dr Kupatadze taught at the School of International Relations, St Andrews University. He held the postdoctoral positions at George Washington University (2010-11), Oxford University (2012-13) and Princeton University (2013-14). His research specialization is transnational crime, corruption, public sector reform, informal politics and crime-terror nexus. His regional expertise is post-Soviet Eurasia. His work has appeared in Journal of Democracy, Theoretical Criminology, Non-proliferation Review, British Journal of Political Science and other leading journals. His research has been funded by Russell Trust (St Andrews University), British Academy and Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. He has also been regularly consulting private companies and international organisations on crime and corruption related issues in post-Soviet Eurasia.
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