Federico Varese is a Professor of Criminology at the University of Oxford and a Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College. His work focuses on organised crime as a system of governance, examining how criminal groups emerge, expand, and adapt across different societies. He has written extensively on the Russian mafia, Italian mafia groups, Somali piracy, the migration and evolution of mafia organisations, and the use of social network analysis to understand criminal behaviour. His recent projects include research on gang governance in the UK, cybercrime markets, illicit financial networks, and the global market for substandard medicines. He is the author of several books, including The Russian Mafia, Mafias on the Move, Mafia Life, and Russia in Four Criminals. Federico’s research and commentary have appeared across leading media platforms, including The Economist, the BBC, The Guardian, and The New York Times.

In this episode of Conflict, Power, and Persuasion, FedericoVarese takes us inside the hidden machinery of mafia governance; how these groups rise, rule, and reveals their negotiation and power strategies along the way.

Some topics discussed include:

• What counts as organised crime, and the three core functions these groups serve in society.
• How mafia organisations like the Ndrangheta end up performing state-like roles in protection, dispute resolution, and governance.
• The global scale of organised crime, and why tens of millions of people live under the rule of criminal governance.
• How weak justice systems, slow courts, and limited access to social services create conditions for organised crime to take hold.
• What the origins of mafia groups reveal; from shifts out of feudal systems to the shared rules and doctrines that underpin membership across cultures.
• Why effective reintegration after conflict is critical to prevent armed groups from entering into organised crime.
• What Federico’s research on mafia behaviour reveals about negotiation, from informational power and credible commitments to trust, respect, reputation, and the ways criminal groups influence others without relying solely on violence.

And much more…

Links:

Federico Varese’s Website : https://federicovarese.com/

Mafias on the Move (book) : https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691128553Mafia Life: Love, Death and Money at the Heart of Organised Crime - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0791KTC9K

Russia in Four Criminals (latest book):https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DFDPDWM7

Latin America Citizen Security Survey on
https://www.iadb.org/en/news/citizen-security-latin-america-and-caribbean