ABSTRACT
The relationship between crime and terrorism is one that precedes the events of 9/11, and the subsequent transformation of how security is perceived in democracies. A crime-terror nexus, regardless of how it is defined, is not a new security dynamic, but one that has evolved over several decades. Although academic interest and government acknowledgement of this phenomenon dates back to the 1980s, debate has been sporadic at best. Discourse on the relationship between crime and terrorism has often coincided with landmark security events – such as the growth of the cocaine trade in South America; the emergence of post-Cold War grievances embodied in ‘new’ conflicts; and, the connection drawn between al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the Afghan heroin trade post 9/11. As a result, the comparatively young crime-terror debate provides an illustrative example of the gap that exists in how governments interpret and portray a security agenda, and how electorates perceive security. Somewhere on the outskirts of this debate sits the ‘reality’ of the threat posed by the crime-terror nexus.
