How do Mafias and rebels help to fight the pandemic!?

The coronavirus pandemic has become a test for states around the world. Governments were unprepared for such large vacancy crisis: health systems faced shortage of resources, social support agencies could not stand the surge in welfare claims, and existing governance problems worsened.

The Center for Prospective Management Solutions (CPMS) monitors this kind of trends specially COVID-19 in a separate project. During pandemic the states faced constructive actions by players which the citizens do not expect help during crisis like this. In some countries, the government oppositions groups challenging the state power, they have shown themselves to be an alternative ruling institutions.

Such groups can be conditionally divided into two types:

The first type is organized crime, carrying out illegal activities primarily for profit. For example, in Italy, the Mafia groups also supports small businesses that lost incomes due to quarantine. But this is not gratuitous assistance, entrepreneurs become dependent on unofficial creditors, which creates the risk of transferring the business under the full control of criminal groups. The Mafia groups is not only increasing their presence in the local economy and increasing levels of corruption, but also expanding opportunities for money laundering and drug smuggling. Law enforcement officials fear that the mafias will use the crisis to fuel anti-government sentiment, undermine confidence in government institutions and, as a result, legitimize its own presence.

The second type of groups that replace the state during a pandemic is united by the pursuit of political goals. These include various rebel organizations and parties. They can be illegal, but control certain territories.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban have joined the fight against the epidemic. The Taliban, recognized by the UN Security Council as a terrorist organization, is in conflict with the US-backed government, but controls and de facto controls a significant portion of Afghan soil territories. Back in mid-March, the Taliban announced their readiness to cooperate with representatives of the WHO and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Later, representatives of the group promised to introduce ceasefires in the event of outbreaks of infection (despite the February agreement with the United States and the Afghan government, hostilities did not stop). In April, the Taliban launched a public awareness campaign about the coronavirus and canceled public events and introduced a two-week quarantine for those returning from Iran.

Such measures also solve propaganda problems, presenting the Taliban as a responsible force capable of functioning as a government. The Taliban have already received the support of the Afghan authorities and even the US State Department.

The failure of the state to fulfill its functions and its replacement by non-state actors is traditionally viewed by political scientists as the "collapse of the state". However, it does not count as fewer radical failures, as in the case with Italy. A group of British and American political scientists in their recent work has proposed a more universal term - zones of limited statehood. The inability of the central government to set rules and enforce them can manifest itself in part of the country, in certain areas of politics, or at a certain time.

In such zones, governance is not completely absent, it can be exercised, for example, by other states, businesses or NGOs. Violent and criminal actors find themselves in the same line. Their willingness to invest not only in achieving their main goals (profit or political interest), but also in the creation of government institutions is motivated by four factors. First, it becomes a side effect of the desire to make money. By expanding the market for their violent resource, for example, by providing businesses with protection for a fee, they effectively become providers of basic services such as security and dispute resolution that the government is unable to provide. Secondly, such groups get the opportunity to strengthen control over a certain territory and population. Third, by successfully providing the necessary collective goods, they increase their legitimacy in the eyes of the local population. Finally, groups that in the long-term claim to create an independent political order, such as the Taliban, thus master the "language of statehood".

Posted by: 0197409056 Mamazairova Nursina for the final project of the course Global Governance and International Organizations