Political leadership and governance
4.73
Refers to the role a state’s government plays in responding to organized crime and its effectiveness in doing so. Strong political leadership and governance indicate higher state resilience to organized crime.
Governments orient citizens toward a state’s stance on organized crime, championing its role in combating the phenomenon by laying the foundation to implement action. The platform in which anti-organized crime rhetoric is made reflects to some degree the level of prioritization of organized crime on the national agenda.
Governance serves as a function of the relationship between the state and its governed populations. Leaders send messages that are seen as legitimate, and in turn unify society. People’s confidence in those who govern them can be directly linked to conflict in a society. The presence of organized crime can tangibly reduce the capacity for governance and the legitimacy of the government in the eyes of the population. When there is no or little confidence in government, society can become unstable, creating (further) opportunities for organized crime to fill the void between the state and its populations.
