The 1990s wars in Yugoslavia led to the disintegration of the country and ushered an era of poverty, political corruption, organized crime and terrorism. The Balkans became synonymous with the syndrome of a failed state, where civil society institutions are doomed to fail. The area has presented the international community with some unique challenges associated with unemployment, jihadism, crime and all those maladies under the wings of political leaderships that have given many reasons to the international community to doubt their credibility and their belief to the rule of law. This study will prove that a nexus exists between Islamic and ethno-nationalist terrorism and illegal criminal activities, and it will focus mainly in three countries: Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia Herzegovina.
Working paper 97/2018: “An Unholy Alliance of Muslim Extremists and Organized Crime in the Balkans – Case Studies: Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia Herzegovina” by Spiros Bamiatzis, MA Counter-Terrorism Candidate IDC, Herzliya, Israel/Researcher