Making Peace in Drug Wars: Crackdowns and Cartels in Latin America (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics) - Softcover

Lessing, Benjamin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1316648966 ISBN 13: 9781316648964

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2017

Synopsis

Over the past thirty years, a new form of conflict has ravaged Latin America's largest countries, with well-armed drug cartels fighting not only one another but the state itself. In Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil, leaders cracked down on cartels in hopes of restoring the rule of law and the state's monopoly on force. Instead, cartels fought back - with bullets and bribes - driving spirals of violence and corruption that make mockeries of leaders' state-building aims. Fortunately, some policy reforms quickly curtailed cartel-state conflict, but they proved tragically difficult to sustain. Why do cartels fight states, if not to topple or secede from them? Why do some state crackdowns trigger and exacerbate cartel-state conflict, while others curb it? This study argues that brute-force repression generates incentives for cartels to fight back, while policies that condition repression on cartel violence can effectively deter cartel-state conflict. The politics of drug war, however, make conditional policies all too fragile.

About this title

About the Author

Benjamin Lessing, assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago, studies "criminal conflict"--organized violence involving armed groups that do not seek formal state power, such as drug cartels, prison gangs, and paramilitaries. His focus is on Latin America: prior to graduate work at UC Berkeley, Lessing lived in Rio de Janeiro for five years, first as a Fulbright scholar, later conducting field research on arms trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean for non-governmental organizations including Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Viva Rio, Brazil's largest NGO. He has received awards from the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Smith Richardson Foundation. He is a contributor at The Monkey Cage, the Brookings Institution, the Inter-American Dialogue, among others.

From the Back Cover

"Why does large-scale, organized criminal violence escalate in someplaces and times but not others? And why do states sometimes succeed inrepressing drug-trafficking cartels but often fail, triggering anexplosion in violence? Plowing into uncharted terrain, this fascinatingand extremely readable book offers a convincing account of themultifaceted interactions between states and cartels. Combiningsophisticated analysis with captivating, on-the-ground research, MakingPeace in Drug Wars sets the agenda in a new and highly relevant area ofinquiry. This is easily the best book I have read this year, a greatachievement." -- Stathis N. Kalyvas, Arnold Wolfers Professor of Political Science andDirector of the Program on Order, Conflict and Violence, Yale University

"Everywhere you look in Latin America you see struggles between druggangs and the state. This brilliant book shows how it can be broughtwithin the corpus of comparative politics. A new direction for thefield." -- James A. Robinson, Richard L. Pearson Professor of Global ConflictStudies and University Professor, University of Chicago

"Conditional repression' isn't as exciting a slogan as 'End the drugwar!' But, adopted as policy, it could save thousands of lives. Benjamin Lessing makes a convincing case. Let's hope some people in power payattention." -- Mark Kleiman, Marron Institute of Urban Management, New York University

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1316648966
• ISBN 13: 9781316648964
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 354