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Anti-organized crime institutions in Russia are being developed. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, organized crime has taken control of many major sectors of Russia's state economy, society, and government. Most initiatives and institutions developed against organized crime groups have failed. Others, that have managed to remain standing, struggle in having any influence over the groups or cannot stop them, thus sitting idly without the ability to influence any crime. Due to the Russian government's continuous failure to curb organized crime, other nations such as the United States have tried to intervene and assist it in finding strategies. Organized crime does not have a set definition that is recognized worldwide because every nation defines organized crime by different terms depending on their perceptions of variables such as culture and policy. In Russia, organized crime is defined by law enforcement authorities as, "... an organized community of criminals ranging in size from 50 to 1,000 persons, which is engaged in systematic criminal business and protects itself from the law with the help of corruption." The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States defines organized crime as "... a self-perpetuating, structured and disciplined association of individuals or groups, combined together for the purpose of obtaining monetary or commercial gains or profits, wholly or in part by illegal means, while protecting their activities through a pattern of graft and corruption." Federico Varese, a Professor in Criminology at the University of Oxford, offers yet another view of organized crime, particularly pertaining to mafia groups, "a mafia group is a particular type of organized crime that specializes in one particular commodity () protection". == Background == The Communist Soviet Union collapsed after Mikhail Gorbachev tried to open the country via his policies of perestroika (1986) and glasnost (1988). While his actions brought the Soviet Union out of isolation from the international community, the initiatives are also seen as a failure because he tried to implement them too quickly. The shift from a state-run economy to a market economy was not gradual, it was abrupt. The nation was not ready for such a quick, drastic change. The new Russian Federation was forced into a market economy after decades of suppression and an entirely state-run economy. The new Russian state government did not have experience with democracy and could not smoothly transition to a democracy ''and'' market economy at the same time. Laws for this new type of state were not in place and when the government tried to enact some, they proved to be very hard to enforce as the population also did not yet understand how democracy and a market economy functioned. The chaos and fear that now plagued the Russian state opened the doors to a large increase in crime. Vladimir Volkov, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the European University at St. Petersburg, cites some useful statistical data showing the immense upward trend of crime in the new Russian state, "... in 1986 the militia registered 1,122 cases of extortion in Russia, in 1989 the number jumped to 4,621". By 1996 there were a registered total of 17,169 cases of extortion. This number included ''only'' cases that were reported and responded to by militia; it is unknown how many cases were unreported. On the other hand, 1996 also saw crime plateau. The following years and in present day, there are not as many groups (although the groups that do exist are extremely powerful). Phil Williams showed the drastic increase in crime groups after the Soviet Union's collapse, "... Russia has increased from 3,000 (organizations ) in the early 1990s to over 8,000 at the end of 1995...." With unsuccessful attempts at stifling organized crime, organized crime groups took control of a significant amount of large, vital, and previously state-owned corporations and businesses. Organized crime groups interrogated and exploited private business owners. If a business owner refused to agree to pay a crime group to protect his business, the crime group would simply kick him out of his own business or, as in the majority of cases, murder him and then take over the business themselves. By the mid-1990s the Russian government realized that some type of effective action was needed if it wanted to avoid losing the entire Russian economy and society to organized crime groups. Hence, initiatives and decrees began to be developed and implemented, although with little success. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Anti-organized crime institutions in Russia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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