Causality and Critical Thinking: Illicit Economy and Fragile State
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54691/bcpssh.v16i.507Keywords:
Illicit Economy; Fragile State; State Authority.Abstract
This paper seeks to address a two-sided question of the state illicit economy: can the illicit economy, which is undoubtedly harmful to the state, also be a beneficial enabler. The prevailing view is affirmative. The answer in this paper is negative. Focusing on the regions and countries around the world where the illicit economy has proliferated over the past three decades, this paper examines how it has been destroying state authority over time. Meanwhile, this paper critically thinks the dominant view that “the illicit economy can help national policy development, and that marginalised groups in the global South can use it to access markets”, and suggests that states that abuse the illicit economy are simply quenching thirst with poison. This paper also fills a research gap on the causality between the illicit economy and “fragile” states, which until then had not been associated with the illicit economy. The causes of what constitutes a “fragile” state were generally associated with violent conflict, services, regulation and human security.
Downloads
References
Andreas, P. (2015) Review: International Politics and the Illicit Global Economy. Perspectives on Politics. 13(3). pp.782-788.
Heyman, M., Smart, S. (1999) States and Illegal Practices. Oxford, Berg.
Gutierrez, E. (2015) Drugs and Illicit Practices: Assessing their impact on development and governance. Christian Aid Occasional Paper. [Online]. [Accessed 26 November 2021]. Available at: https:// www. christianaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/2017-08/drugs-illicit-practices-impact-development-governance-october-2015.pdf.
Gutierrez, E. (2020) The paradox of illicit economies: survival, resilience, and the limits of development and drug policy orthodoxy. Globalizations. 17(6). pp.1008-1026.
Gillies, A. (2021) Illicit Globalisation: transnational organised crime and the drug trade. Lecture 3. University of Glasgow.
Stewart, F., Brown, G., Caumartin, C., Cobham, A., Langer, A., Ukiwo, U. (2009) Fragile States. Crise working paper. No. 51. pp.1-102.
Grimm, S., Lemay-Hébert, N., Nay, O. (2014) “Fragile States”: introducing a political concept. Third World Quarterly. 35(2). pp.197-209.
Snyder, R., Duran-Martinez, A. (2009) Does illegality breed violence? Drug trafficking and state-sponsored protection rackets. Crime Law Soc Change.No.52. pp.253-273.
Reuter, P., Trautmann, F. (2009) A report on Global Illicit Drugs Markets 1998-2007. European Communities. Printed in the Netherlands.
Kuziemko, I., Levitt, S. (2004) An Empirical Analysis of Imprisoning Drug Offenders. Journal of Public Economics. NO.88. pp.2043-2066.
Banister, J., Boyce, G., Slack, J. (2015) Illicit Economies and State(less) Geographies: The Politics of Illegality. Territory, Politics, Governance. 3(4). pp.365-368.
Schendel, W. and Abraham, I. (2005) Illicit Flows and Criminal Things: States, Borders, and the Other Side of Globalization. Indiana University Press.
Chantavanich, S. (2003) “Recent Research on Human Trafficking in Mainland Southeast Asia”. Kyoto Review. Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University.
Frears(dir.), S. (2002). Dirty Pretty Thing. Recent filmmic representation.
Conroy, B. (2012) Clues put FBI informant at apex of fast and furious scandal, Narco News 29 April [Online]. [Accessed at 01 December 2021]. Available at: http:// narcosphere. narconews. com/ notebook/ bill-conroy/2012/04/clues-put-fbi-informant-apex-fast-and-furious-scandal.
Greenwald, G. (2012) HSBC, too big to jail, is the new poster child for US two-tiered justice system.
McAllister, W. (2000) Drug Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century. New York: Routledge.
Buxton, J. (2006) The Political Economy of Narcotics. Production, Consumption and Global Markets. London: Zed Books.
Pietschmann, T. (2007) A century of international drug control. Bulletin of Narcotics LIX (1-2). Vienna: UNODC.
Campbell, H. (2009) Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Engelhardt, M. (2018) Introduction. In: International Development Organizations and Fragile States. Governance and Limited Statehood. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-6269 5-6_1.
OECD. (2013) “Fragile States 2013. Resource Flows and Trends in a Shifting World”.
Ghani, A. and Lockhart, C. (2008) Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World. London: Oxford University Press.
Kaplan, S. (2008) Fixing Fragile States: A New Paradigm for Development. New York: Praeger.
Danieli, F. 2011. Counter narcotics policies in Tajikistan and their impact on state-building. Central Asian Survey. 30(1). pp.129-145.
Grajales, J. 2011. The rifle and the title: paramilitary violence, land grab and land control in Colombia. Journal of Peasant Studies. 38(4). pp.771-792.
CIFP. 2004. Fragile states: Monitoring and assessment: the way forward. Carleton, Ottawa. CIFP.
Shahbandeh, M. (2021) Sugar Industry - statistics & facts [Online] Available at: https:// www. statista. com/ topics/1224/sugar/ [Accessed at: 2 February 2022].
Centro Nacional de Memoria Historical. (2012). enough already! Colombia: memories of war and dignity. Available at: http://www.centrodememoriahistorica.gov.co/micrositios/informeGeneral/ [Accessed at 27 January 2022].
Walsh, J., Jelsma, M. (2019) Regulating Drugs: Resolving Conflicts with the UN Drug Control Treaty System. Journal of Illicit Economies and Development. 1(3). pp.266–271.
Reuter, P., Kleiman, MA. 1986. Risks and Prices: An Economic Analysis of Drug Enforcement. In: Morris N and Tonry M (eds.). Crime and Justice: An Annual Review of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kuziemko, I., Levitt, S. 2004. An Empirical Analysis of Imprisoning Drug Offenders. Journal of Public Economics. NO.88. pp.2043-2066.
Gambetta, D. 1996. The Sicilian mafia: The business of private protection. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Stanley, W. 1996. The protection racket state: Elite politics, military extortion and civil war in El Salvador. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Lupsha, P. A. 1991. Drug lords and narco-corruption: The players change but the game continues. Crime, Law and Social Change. NO.16. pp.41-58.
Torres, M.C.B. (2011). State and coca on the Colombian border: The case of Putumayo. Bogota DC: ODECOFICINEP.
UNODC Afghanistan country office, Analysis of Opiate and Precursor Seizures in Afghanistan in 2008, 2009, p.13; see UNODC 2009 World Drug Report, p.37.
UNODC. (2010) World Drug Report 2010 [Online] Available at: https:// www. unodc. org/ documents/ wdr/ WDR_2010/World_Drug_Report_2010_lo-res.pdf [Accessed at 01 March 2022].
Ramirez, M. C. (2011). Between the Guerrillas and the State: The Cocalero Movement, citizenship, and identity in the Colombian Amazon (translated from Spanish by Andy Klatt). Durham, NC: Duke University Press: Kindle edition.
Vargas Meza, R. (2014, July). “Drugs, armed conflict and peace: How does the agreement on drugs between the government and the FARC help to put an end to the armed conflict in Colombia”. Drug Policy Briefing No. 42. Amsterdam: Transnational Institute.
UNODC. (2018) World Drug Report 2018 [Online] Available at: https://www.unodc.org/wdr2018/ [Accessed at 05 March 2022].
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
How to Cite
