ABSTRACT
Introduction Italy is one of the founding states of the European Union (EU), a polity priding itself on postmodern principles including the absence of the use of violence. Yet, the Italian state in the south has been infested with violence that some compare to civil wars (Saviano, 2007), most of which have been blamed on the existence of the Italian mafia. Thus, there is great difficulty in attempting to understand why the mafia persists in a state when the principles of that state stand in stark contradiction to such organizations. This puzzle forms the basis of the research presented in this chapter. The dependent variable is defined as mafia persistence. In this case, I propose three independent variables: (1) the availability of violent entrepreneurs, (2) the existence of a market for private protection, and (3) the mafia’s transformation to serve, and depend on the state. All three variables feed into the resilience of the Italian mafia. The first two independent variables define structural conditions for the mafia to emerge while the third variable defines the mafia’s ability to persist. Of course, there are conditional variables that make these mechanisms work, with the most pertinent
Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 75 Alternative Explanations .............................................................................................................76 History ...................................................................................................................................... 77 Globalization and Transformation ............................................................................................. 78 Symbiotic Relationship with the State ....................................................................................... 79 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 80 References ..................................................................................................................................81
