Conclusion

This concluding chapter presents five propositions that may inform future research and policy. First, the temptation to reduce organized crime to an apolitical, nonagentic, or inconsequential factor has been overindulged. Second, differentiating mafias from governments and insurgents relieves a tired debate about torn states. Namely, is it opportunism or idealism? The answer is, both. Third, mafias' dual capacity to both disintegrate nations and promote state building is a unique feature that differentiates them from related “villainous” categories. Fourth, the role of organized crime in a torn state reveals nothing about the legitimacy of the nationalisms at play. Fifth, the fact of mafias' profound impact on torn states is never an apologia for gangsterism. But the potential of organized crime to promote multiethnic integration and state making should inspire creative political action that does not inherently treat mafias as problems.