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Introduction: Drug Trafficking and the State
Author(s) -
Geffray Christian
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
international social science journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.237
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1468-2451
pISSN - 0020-8701
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2451.00330
Subject(s) - language change , state (computer science) , drug trafficking , clientelism , power (physics) , politics , political science , criminology , de facto , china , abuse of power , political economy , law and economics , law , sociology , democracy , art , physics , literature , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science
In this article we seek to highlight two generic patterns of state delinquency connected to drug trafficking: on the one hand, corruption through the neutralisation of the state's power, when the initiative is in the hands of drug traffickers, and, on the other, corruption through abuse of power when the initiative lies with civil servants. The studies presented in this chapter suggest, indeed, that the predominance of one or the other form of corruption is greatly dependent upon the history of the state and the balance of power between public institutions and drug trafficking networks. For example, the case of Mexico, where the various administrations remained for a long time under the de facto tutelage of a single party, may bear a greater similarity in this respect to the case of China than to that of Brazil, India, or Colombia. Beyond the differences, and regardless of the extent to which traffickers are independent of the power of the state, we raise the political question of clientelism.