ABSTRACT
The political and scientific discourse of post-Soviet reforms is dominated by questions as to the nature of the obstacles that the democratic and market institutions encounter in the Eastern European countries, particularly those that belonged to the former USSR. The 'Red Mafia' is often evoked by Western observers, as well as by the national and international media, as one such obstacle. By fitting into the logic of globalization, the Mafia loses its local and regional character, becoming a threat on an international scale. By using an economic term, knowledge of the Mafia that is based on media images becomes self-fulfilling: if everyone believes in the reality of that state it becomes attainable and then reality. The functional definition of 'Red Mafia' brings the Italian Mafia to mind: 'The Mafia is a clandestine criminal organization, which belongs to the system of organized crime, is involved in corruption, and operates on a parallel market'.
