Profit, or power? Towards a construction of organized crime in Czech policy

This paper aims to make sense how organized crime is constructed by the Czech government. Drawing on the intention-based model of organized crime (Sergi, 2017), this study specifically examines whether the country's national policy frames organized crime as a profit- or poweroriented phenomenon. To this end, an analysis of the government-issued Concepts for Combating Organized Crime was conducted, focusing on the rationale behind the adopted legal measures designed to combat organized crime. Qualitative content analysis was applied to first identify the relevant measures and then to examine their rationale in light of the intention-based model. The analysis revealed that the legal measures were primarily designed to counter profitdriven criminal groups operating in legitimate markets alongside legal and respectable actors, where such groups benefit from being virtually invisible to official authorities and are tolerated by other market actors.