ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the rise of the criminalized authoritarian state, a degenerate form of the post-colonial authoritarian state in the period between 2000 and 2015. This ‘new’ authoritarianism in Guyana is analyzed within the broader problematic of democratization in the twenty-first century. The question is: what is the relationship between democracy and authoritarianism in general and in Guyana in particular? The criminalized authoritarian state was a product of neoliberal democratization. Among other things the state was characterized by a ruling clique in which factions of organized crime bosses played an important role. A large phantom economy emerged, which was a proxy for the economic might of organized crime. Corruption was another of its central features, which served as the willing and able handmaiden of organized crime. The criminalized authoritarian state engaged in extra-judicial murders, drug trafficking, corruption, money laundering and trafficking in persons. Most importantly natural resource extraction, in particular small-scale gold mining had a central role in filling the pockets of the corrupt state elites and their cronies.
