Narco-Democratization by Allan Gillies

Narco-Democratization by Allan Gillies

The development of the global illicit drug trade has posed significant challenges to democracy throughout Latin America. Scenes of violence and disorder linked to organized crime and the war on drugs are imprinted in the popular consciousness. The case of Bolivia, though, shows that the dominant narrative wasn't the only one. Following decades of authoritarian government, Bolivia democratized in 1982. Its cocaine economy grew rapidly, and the United States made Bolivia a focus of its war on drugs. Such factors are often associated with increased violence in Latin America, yet Bolivia largely avoided a similar fate. State-narco networks--relations of patronage between state actors and Bolivia's organized crime groups--played an important role in suppressing violent competition in the cocaine trade. These networks were established during the country's authoritarian period and reflected the historic clientelistic functions of the Bolivian state. As Bolivia democratized, state-narco networks evolved and became bound to a fragile post-transition settlement between the main political actors. Allan Gillies reveals how these networks shaped Bolivia's political transition while controlling violence, but also limited the function of democracy by reinforcing authoritarian and corrupt practices.

Narco-Democratization is a must read for students and scholars of violence and crime in Latin AmericaAllan Gillies employs deep archival research to expertly trace the emergence of state-narco networks during Bolivia’s military dictatorship, then shows how these relationships evolved during the country’s transition to democracy. The result, unlike in other prominent cases, was the containment of violence at the expense of democratic consolidation. This book forces us to reconsider some of the prevailing assumptions about the Latin American state, its transition to democracy, and the drug wars that ensued.

-- Nicholas Barnes, University of St. Andrews

Allan Gillies is lecturer of political and international studies in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Previously, he held an Economic and Social Research Council Global Challenges Research Fund Fellowship and received a Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith Scholarship, also at Glasgow.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780822948919
Title	Narco-Democratization
Author	Allan Gillies
Series	Pitt Latin American Series
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	University of Pittsburgh Press
Year published	2026-04-21
Number of pages	208
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.