Samenvatting

This article takes the four principles of Ritzer’s work on the McDonaldization of Society (1993) as starting point to analyse the so-called integrated approach in the Netherlands to fight and contain organized drug-related crime. Nowadays, in the Netherlands this type of organized crime is referred to as ‘subversive crime’. For decades, the integrated approach to organised crime has been based on several fixed guiding principles and a set pattern, which are rarely questioned. The authors of this article review and dare to question the cognitive and operational logic of these guiding principles. First, they argue that the key concepts of the approach (‘subversive crime’ and ‘integrated’) have led to much confusion and misunderstanding. Second, by looking at the integrated approach from the angles of predictability, calculability, efficiency and control, they conclude that the approach has culminated in several interesting new initiatives and developments on the one hand, but has resulted in much organizational disorder and fuss on the other.