Is the FATF an Economic Hitman?

Abstract

The popularization of the term “economic hitman” (Perkins 2004) in Pakistan has coincided with its being put on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list” in 2018. Given the economic duress that the FATF’s politicization has imposed on Pakistan, the aim of this paper is to consider whether the FATF itself could not be contextualized through the lens of Perkin’s economic hitman. The findings of the paper suggest that the FATF’s political warfare and structural violence present a pertinent analogy to the thematic ambit of economic hitmen.

Keywords: FATF, violence, economic sanctions, economy, Pakistan, white collar crime, regulation, financial institutions, terrorism