Beyond ''Plata O Plomo'' - Drugs and State Reconfiguration in Colombia

This Element introduces the concept of oligopoly of coercion to interpretate the interaction between drug trafficking and reconfiguration of the state in Colombia. Three elements are central to this interpretation: corruption in oligopolies of coercion must be understood as a payment by drug traffickers for acting like a parallel state; the state criminalizes more drug as merchandise than drug as capital ¿ its equivalent in money; the politics and war around drug trafficking in Colombia should be understood as the way in which peripheral societies access global markets through the ruling institutions of private armies. With these elements, the author focuses on the dynamics of the reconfiguration of the state in Colombia after the cocaine boom in the mid-70s and the evolution of the private armies in Colombia.

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. An Interpretation of Drug Trafficking and the Reconfiguration of the State: The Business of Power Production; 2. Merchandise, Capital, and the Geography of the State; 3. The Interpretation; 4. The Dynamics of State Reconfiguration in Colombia: A State Driven by War to Meet Its Obligations; 5. Conclusions.

Summary

This Element explores three central elements to the interpretation of the interaction between drug trafficking and reconfiguration of the state in Colombia. This discusses the flaws of the state authority and the offensive of Marxist guerrillas since the early 80s, which shaped the oligopolies of coercion that drug traffickers later imposed.

Foreword

This Element interprets how narcotrafficking and private armies interacted with the process of configuration of the state in Colombia.

Product details

• Authors: Gustavo Duncan, Gustavo (Universidad Eafit Duncan
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.09.2022
• EAN: 9781108810326
• ISBN: 978-1-108-81032-6
• No. of pages: 75
• Series: Elements in Politics and Socie; Elements in Politics and Society in Latin America
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political administration; Colombia, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology, LAW / Drugs & the Law, Organized crime, Drugs trade / drug trafficking, Irregular or guerrilla forces & warfare, Irregular or guerrilla forces and warfare, HISTORY / Military / Guerrilla Warfare