A Crucible of Conflict: Third Generation Gang Studies Revisited by John P. Sullivan and Robert J. Bunker This essry briegy recounrs iltlitfl,"" of the gangs that occttpy failed communities and states, further discasses and updates lhe model of third generation street gangs discassed in an earlier Journal ofGang Research article- typically desuibed simply as third generation gangs (3 GEN Gongs), and suggests strategies for coping with and mitigating this evolved form of gang violence. Of note is the lack o/ impact 3GEN Gangs studies have had on domestically focused U.S. academic gang reseorch while, at the same time, becoming a dominant model in use by defense analysts and scholars focrsing on increasingly politicized non- state threat groups ineluding heavily armed Lqtin American gang. Gangs have existed in a variety of forms throughout history. Most of the ,. \-. time, gangs are d endemic crime and disorder issue aptly handled by community police. On occasion, Emgactivity flared to present acute, localized, high intensity criminal challenfes managed by intense local law enforcement and social programs. At other, more rare occasions, gangs as a form of non-state armed actor Eanscend the criminal realm and occupy a comer at the intersection between crime and war. This essay looks at the potential for high intensity gang violence to challenge state structures and stability as a potential threat to national stability. Traditionally, gangs have been viewed as purely criminal enterprises of varying degrees of sophistication and reach. In most cases, that view holds. In others, gangs are evolving or morphing into potentiallymore dangerous actors. The venues for this transition are the slums ofthe global city. In many cities and mega- cities, no-go zones, effectively 'criminal enclaves' or'lawless zones' dominated by gangs and organized crime, are linked with global criminal circuits, fueling transnational organized crime and challenging weak states. "At a neighborhood level, political and operational comrption can diminish public safety, placing residents at risk to endemic violence and inter-gang conflict, essentially resulting in a 'failed community,' a virtual analog of a'failed state"'(Sullivan and Bunker, 2002).