Outlaw organizations are neglected in organization studies. This is understandable given the presumption of illegitimacy they attract. Our article challenges the presumption by positing the concept of bandit organizations', demonstrating how some can build impressive levels of legitimacy among their audience. The case of Christopher Dudas' Coke, a philanthropic Jamaican drug cartel leader, and his Shower Posse' gang, is used to investigate how contemporary bandit organizations foster legitimacy. By placing shadow economy' organizations like this in the spotlight, we seek to extend scholarship on organizational legitimacy, while avoiding any undue romanticization of criminal organizations.

In this article we critically consider the widely held conception that the public intellectual is in decline. We present a more sanguine fate of this figure, arguing that today we observe a flourishing of intellectuals. One such figure is the academic intellectual who has often been looked at with suspicion as a technical specialist. This conception suggests that university intellectuals are diluted versions of the historical conception of the 'true' public intellectual - that is, an 'independent spirit' that fearlessly challenges unjust power. In this article, we contest this view, arguing that this historical conception, idealised as it may be, nevertheless can inform scholastic activities. By resituating the public intellectual as a kind of temperament rather than a title, we examine its pressing - but at the same time uneasy - relevance to contemporary academic life. Counterposing this with contemporary instrumental conceptions of research impact, we suggest that where possible the intellectual academic should aspire to go beyond academic institutional norms and requirements. Hence, the academic public intellectual refers to a temperament, which is in but not of the academic profession.