Perspective on Organised and Transnational Crime in Panama

Since the 1990s, the term "transnational organised crime" has come into use, representing organised groups that internationalise their criminal activities with repercussions in more than one jurisdiction in order to maintain the permanence of one or several criminal organisations. One factor in transnational crime is the globalisation of the world economy, a significant variable in the notion of transnational organised crime; globalisation or, as some economists call it, "international economic integration" was characterised by the free circulation of financial capital, the internationalisation of trade and means of production, the notorious exchange of information, transport, trade in services and the transfer of goods, the use of new technologies and, with this, the flow of people across borders to settle in countries with greater stability and economic opportunity. As a result, local criminal groups have formed criminal networks for the purposes of their criminal operations that destabilise the democratic structures of the state.