Transnational crime should not only be viewed as the result of large, fixed monolithic and strictly fixed structures which are relatively easy targets as they are vulnerable to decapitation and other forms of dismantling. Looser, less formal networks are actually more difficult to contain. The tremendous example of synthetic drugs stresses the propensity of crime to adapt to new situations. North countries are now heavy producer of designer drugs and are exporting important parts of their ouput into poor countries. Third World states are increasingly afflicted by drugs consumption either originating from local productions or imported from North countries and generally of low quality products.
Banks are often more preocupied by having liquidities than by moral considerations.
With active corruption of each layer of the society the cartels manage to control the decision making process. In 1993, they were successful in getting a revision of the Colombian constitution that protect them from international law enforcement efforts by putting an end to extraditions. Back to the top Conclusion Law enforcement remains the main alternative against transnational crime. In the absence of a coercive international justice system, individual and sovereign states remain free to define their own laws, even if this freedom is increasingly challenged. In spite of official preoccupations, strategic and tacit priorities remain the guideline of sovereign states.