What explains variation in the adoption of cannabis regulation reforms, both for medical and recr... more What explains variation in the adoption of cannabis regulation reforms, both for medical and recreational purposes, across Latin America? This article argues that social mobilisation is essential to understand where debates for reform emerge and become stronger. Yet it further contends that policy adoption depends on the existence of pro-reform elite political coalitions. These coalitions in turn depend on whether drug policy becomes a legislative priority and on specific conditions of the party system. The article compares four countries that show variation in the timing and content of reform: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
All the contents of this electronic edition are distributed under the Creative Commons license of... more All the contents of this electronic edition are distributed under the Creative Commons license of "Attribution-Co-sharing 4.0 International" (CC-BY-SA). Any total or partial reproduction of the material must cite its origin.
What explains variation in the adoption of cannabis regulation reforms, both for medical and recr... more What explains variation in the adoption of cannabis regulation reforms, both for medical and recreational purposes, across Latin America? This article argues that social mobilisation is essential to understand where debates for reform emerge and become stronger. Yet it further contends that policy adoption depends on the existence of pro-reform elite political coalitions. These coalitions in turn depend on whether drug policy becomes a legislative priority and on specific conditions of the party system. The article compares four countries that show variation in the timing and content of reform: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Conflict mitigation or governance choreographies? Scaling up and down state-criminal negotiations in Medellin and insights for Mexico., 2023
In the mid 2010s discussions about the pertinence of negotiating with criminal groups increased i... more In the mid 2010s discussions about the pertinence of negotiating with criminal groups increased in Latin America. Although controversial, such negotiations are more common than often thought. This article asks: can negotiations reduce violence and generate peace? I argue that the homicide reduction potential of negotiations depends on the cohesion of the state and on the cohesion and hierarchical control of criminal groups. This in turn generates two challenges for peacebuilding: the challenge of scaling up and down security gains beyond homicide reduction, and the challenge of creating three-way arrangements that include civilians and navigate the blurry boundaries between states, civilians, and criminal actors. To conceptualize these challenges, I also distinguish
“Large Scale Criminal Violence in the 21st Century” in Gruszczak, Artur and Kaempf, Sebastian (Eds.) Routledge Handbook on the Future of Warfare, pp.421-431, 2023
According to the United Nations' 2019 homicide report, between 2007 and 2017 organized crime kill... more According to the United Nations' 2019 homicide report, between 2007 and 2017 organized crime killed as many people as armed conflicts. This chapter first explores trends, actors, and geographic patterns of organized criminal violence, to then analyze current debates on whether large-scale
Este artículo explora la variación entre países en el financiamiento para investigación de cienci... more Este artículo explora la variación entre países en el financiamiento para investigación de ciencias sociales a través de un análisis de nuevos datos bibliométricos y de una encuesta en Argentina, Colombia y Perú. Identificamos tres modelos distintos de investigación que dependen de cuál forma de financiamiento –extranjera, pública-nacional o privada-nacional– sea la dominante. Encontramos que cada modelo – “patrocinado por extranjeros,” “patrocinado por el estado” y “economía mixta” está asociado a distintos patrones de acceso al financiamiento, de tipo de conocimiento producido, y de percepciones de parte de investigadores sobre su grado de autonomía.
Durante la década pasada, debates sobre la
pertinencia de negociar con grupos armados
“criminales... more Durante la década pasada, debates sobre la pertinencia de negociar con grupos armados “criminales” que no tienen una agenda ideológica, se multiplicaron en América Latina.En este ensayo presento algunas ideas para entender de dónde y cómo surgen estos procesos (especialmente aquellos en donde participa el Estado), qué condiciones explican su impacto, y los desafíos de aplicar principios de negociación y construcción de paz en contextos de violencia criminal.
The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Latin America, 2020
Illicit drugs have long affected public security, social relations, and politics in Latin America... more Illicit drugs have long affected public security, social relations, and politics in Latin America. Until recently, the analysis of illicit drugs primarily focused on Colombia and, to some extent, Mexico, and most scholarship was policy-oriented, dealing with the influence of the US and the Global Drug Prohibition Regime. In recent years, the scholarship has expanded its theoretical and methodological approaches as well as its geographical scope. This chapter analyzes key contributions emerging from new research: the mapping of the political, social, and economic constellations of actors and discourses that sustain policies related to illicit drugs; the critical revision of certain assumptions, fostering a more nuanced understanding of the multiple social and political relations involved in illicit drug markets; and greater attention to how illicit and licit actors relate, including unpacking the links between state actors and criminal groups.
Violence is commonly viewed as an inherent attribute of the drug trade. Yet, there is dramatic va... more Violence is commonly viewed as an inherent attribute of the drug trade. Yet, there is dramatic variation in drug violence within countries afflicted by drug trafficking. This article advances a novel framework that explains how the interaction between two critical variables, the cohesion of the state security apparatus, and the competition in the illegal market determines traffickers’ incentives to employ violence. The analysis introduces a generally overlooked dimension of violence, its visibility. Visibility refers to whether traffickers publicly expose their use of violence or claim responsibility for their attacks. Drawing on fieldwork in five cities in Colombia and Mexico (Cali, Medellin, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, and Tijuana), 175 interviews, and a new data set on drug violence, I argue that violence becomes visible and frequent when trafficking organizations compete and the state security apparatus is fragmented. By contrast, violence becomes less visible and less frequent whe...
Over the past decade, drug consumption has increased in Colombia and Mexico, countries traditiona... more Over the past decade, drug consumption has increased in Colombia and Mexico, countries traditionally concerned with drug production and trafficking. Governments and observers have associated this growth with spikes in violence. Drawing on drug consumption surveys and fieldwork in four cities, this study argues that contrary to this perception, there is no automatic connection between domestic drug markets and violence. Violence depends on whether large drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) control low-level street dealers and on whether those DTOs have a market monopoly at the local level. When dealers are independent, violence might be sporadic, but when DTOs control dealers, violence can explode (given competition between DTOs) or implode (if one organization holds a monopoly). Control over dealers provides DTOs not only income but also informants and armed muscle. This article also shows that domestic drug markets are not new, and have grown incrementally in the past two decades.
América Latina en la Guerra contra las Drogas. Una mirada multidimensional a un fenómeno global. Giovanni Molano Cruz (Ed.) Bogotá: Iepri-Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Fescol, pp. 65-100. ISBN: 978-958-8677-50-7., 2021
El capítulo primero resume la posición de Suramérica en las cadenas globales del narcotráfico. La... more El capítulo primero resume la posición de Suramérica en las cadenas globales del narcotráfico. Las siguientes secciones discuten la evolución de la política antidrogas en la región y sus consecuencias, la transformación en los términos de debate, y las causas del mismo. La última sección explica los obstáculos para reformar las políticas de control de drogas, y la conclusión evalúa futuros escenarios posibles.
Since cocaine was first synthetized in the late nineteenth century, its licit and illicit flows h... more Since cocaine was first synthetized in the late nineteenth century, its licit and illicit flows have been marked by sharp power imbalances between producers and consumers of the substance, and across links of the supply chain. Due to the concentration of production in a few countries, and its tight connection to the geopolitical relation between US and Latin America, the regulation, criminalization, and policing of cocaine flows has been heavily dictated by the United States. International power imbalances have also made the illegal cocaine market one of the most profitable and violent drug markets, and the subject of highly militarized counternarcotic policies. Yet the prevalent view of cocaine markets as the most violent and profitable, and a focus on US influence, often hides domestic struggles around race, class, and political power, and connections with state building and development. The beginning of the twenty-first century marked an expansion of cocaine supply chains, as use and transit routes extended to more countries, potentially altering the traditional power configuration of cocaine smuggling. This chapter revisits the implications of multiple power imbalances, their interaction with domestic politics, and the extent to which changes in the supply chain can alter the politics of cocaine smuggling.
Chapter 5 focuses on South America, the region where global cocaine flows originate, and where re... more Chapter 5 focuses on South America, the region where global cocaine flows originate, and where reform and debates about new domestic drug policies are likely to emerge. Despite the consensus on the need for change, this chapter argues there is little consensus on what this change entails, and that most governments still support the legal cornerstones of the International Drug Control Regime. The chapter contends that three factors influence the region’s endorsement for change: first, evolving US foreign policy; second, growing violence in the region; and third, changes in supply chain networks of cocaine. These have made intraregional and domestic markets more prominent, encouraging governments to recognize that drug policies have generated new problems. The chapter concludes by assessing the possibilities and obstacles for drug policy reform in the region.
... 264 R. Snyder, A. Duran-Martinez Page 13. ... For example, the capture of Benjamin Arellano F... more ... 264 R. Snyder, A. Duran-Martinez Page 13. ... For example, the capture of Benjamin Arellano Felix from the Tijuana Cartel in 2002 and the extradition to the United States of Osiel Cárdenas Guillen of the Gulf Cartel in 200720, shifted lines of command and ...
What explains variation in the adoption of cannabis regulation reforms, both for medical and recr... more What explains variation in the adoption of cannabis regulation reforms, both for medical and recreational purposes, across Latin America? This article argues that social mobilisation is essential to understand where debates for reform emerge and become stronger. Yet it further contends that policy adoption depends on the existence of pro-reform elite political coalitions. These coalitions in turn depend on whether drug policy becomes a legislative priority and on specific conditions of the party system. The article compares four countries that show variation in the timing and content of reform: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
All the contents of this electronic edition are distributed under the Creative Commons license of... more All the contents of this electronic edition are distributed under the Creative Commons license of "Attribution-Co-sharing 4.0 International" (CC-BY-SA). Any total or partial reproduction of the material must cite its origin.
What explains variation in the adoption of cannabis regulation reforms, both for medical and recr... more What explains variation in the adoption of cannabis regulation reforms, both for medical and recreational purposes, across Latin America? This article argues that social mobilisation is essential to understand where debates for reform emerge and become stronger. Yet it further contends that policy adoption depends on the existence of pro-reform elite political coalitions. These coalitions in turn depend on whether drug policy becomes a legislative priority and on specific conditions of the party system. The article compares four countries that show variation in the timing and content of reform: Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Conflict mitigation or governance choreographies? Scaling up and down state-criminal negotiations in Medellin and insights for Mexico., 2023
In the mid 2010s discussions about the pertinence of negotiating with criminal groups increased i... more In the mid 2010s discussions about the pertinence of negotiating with criminal groups increased in Latin America. Although controversial, such negotiations are more common than often thought. This article asks: can negotiations reduce violence and generate peace? I argue that the homicide reduction potential of negotiations depends on the cohesion of the state and on the cohesion and hierarchical control of criminal groups. This in turn generates two challenges for peacebuilding: the challenge of scaling up and down security gains beyond homicide reduction, and the challenge of creating three-way arrangements that include civilians and navigate the blurry boundaries between states, civilians, and criminal actors. To conceptualize these challenges, I also distinguish
“Large Scale Criminal Violence in the 21st Century” in Gruszczak, Artur and Kaempf, Sebastian (Eds.) Routledge Handbook on the Future of Warfare, pp.421-431, 2023
According to the United Nations' 2019 homicide report, between 2007 and 2017 organized crime kill... more According to the United Nations' 2019 homicide report, between 2007 and 2017 organized crime killed as many people as armed conflicts. This chapter first explores trends, actors, and geographic patterns of organized criminal violence, to then analyze current debates on whether large-scale
Este artículo explora la variación entre países en el financiamiento para investigación de cienci... more Este artículo explora la variación entre países en el financiamiento para investigación de ciencias sociales a través de un análisis de nuevos datos bibliométricos y de una encuesta en Argentina, Colombia y Perú. Identificamos tres modelos distintos de investigación que dependen de cuál forma de financiamiento –extranjera, pública-nacional o privada-nacional– sea la dominante. Encontramos que cada modelo – “patrocinado por extranjeros,” “patrocinado por el estado” y “economía mixta” está asociado a distintos patrones de acceso al financiamiento, de tipo de conocimiento producido, y de percepciones de parte de investigadores sobre su grado de autonomía.
Durante la década pasada, debates sobre la
pertinencia de negociar con grupos armados
“criminales... more Durante la década pasada, debates sobre la pertinencia de negociar con grupos armados “criminales” que no tienen una agenda ideológica, se multiplicaron en América Latina.En este ensayo presento algunas ideas para entender de dónde y cómo surgen estos procesos (especialmente aquellos en donde participa el Estado), qué condiciones explican su impacto, y los desafíos de aplicar principios de negociación y construcción de paz en contextos de violencia criminal.
The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Latin America, 2020
Illicit drugs have long affected public security, social relations, and politics in Latin America... more Illicit drugs have long affected public security, social relations, and politics in Latin America. Until recently, the analysis of illicit drugs primarily focused on Colombia and, to some extent, Mexico, and most scholarship was policy-oriented, dealing with the influence of the US and the Global Drug Prohibition Regime. In recent years, the scholarship has expanded its theoretical and methodological approaches as well as its geographical scope. This chapter analyzes key contributions emerging from new research: the mapping of the political, social, and economic constellations of actors and discourses that sustain policies related to illicit drugs; the critical revision of certain assumptions, fostering a more nuanced understanding of the multiple social and political relations involved in illicit drug markets; and greater attention to how illicit and licit actors relate, including unpacking the links between state actors and criminal groups.
Violence is commonly viewed as an inherent attribute of the drug trade. Yet, there is dramatic va... more Violence is commonly viewed as an inherent attribute of the drug trade. Yet, there is dramatic variation in drug violence within countries afflicted by drug trafficking. This article advances a novel framework that explains how the interaction between two critical variables, the cohesion of the state security apparatus, and the competition in the illegal market determines traffickers’ incentives to employ violence. The analysis introduces a generally overlooked dimension of violence, its visibility. Visibility refers to whether traffickers publicly expose their use of violence or claim responsibility for their attacks. Drawing on fieldwork in five cities in Colombia and Mexico (Cali, Medellin, Ciudad Juárez, Culiacán, and Tijuana), 175 interviews, and a new data set on drug violence, I argue that violence becomes visible and frequent when trafficking organizations compete and the state security apparatus is fragmented. By contrast, violence becomes less visible and less frequent whe...
Over the past decade, drug consumption has increased in Colombia and Mexico, countries traditiona... more Over the past decade, drug consumption has increased in Colombia and Mexico, countries traditionally concerned with drug production and trafficking. Governments and observers have associated this growth with spikes in violence. Drawing on drug consumption surveys and fieldwork in four cities, this study argues that contrary to this perception, there is no automatic connection between domestic drug markets and violence. Violence depends on whether large drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) control low-level street dealers and on whether those DTOs have a market monopoly at the local level. When dealers are independent, violence might be sporadic, but when DTOs control dealers, violence can explode (given competition between DTOs) or implode (if one organization holds a monopoly). Control over dealers provides DTOs not only income but also informants and armed muscle. This article also shows that domestic drug markets are not new, and have grown incrementally in the past two decades.
América Latina en la Guerra contra las Drogas. Una mirada multidimensional a un fenómeno global. Giovanni Molano Cruz (Ed.) Bogotá: Iepri-Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Fescol, pp. 65-100. ISBN: 978-958-8677-50-7., 2021
El capítulo primero resume la posición de Suramérica en las cadenas globales del narcotráfico. La... more El capítulo primero resume la posición de Suramérica en las cadenas globales del narcotráfico. Las siguientes secciones discuten la evolución de la política antidrogas en la región y sus consecuencias, la transformación en los términos de debate, y las causas del mismo. La última sección explica los obstáculos para reformar las políticas de control de drogas, y la conclusión evalúa futuros escenarios posibles.
Since cocaine was first synthetized in the late nineteenth century, its licit and illicit flows h... more Since cocaine was first synthetized in the late nineteenth century, its licit and illicit flows have been marked by sharp power imbalances between producers and consumers of the substance, and across links of the supply chain. Due to the concentration of production in a few countries, and its tight connection to the geopolitical relation between US and Latin America, the regulation, criminalization, and policing of cocaine flows has been heavily dictated by the United States. International power imbalances have also made the illegal cocaine market one of the most profitable and violent drug markets, and the subject of highly militarized counternarcotic policies. Yet the prevalent view of cocaine markets as the most violent and profitable, and a focus on US influence, often hides domestic struggles around race, class, and political power, and connections with state building and development. The beginning of the twenty-first century marked an expansion of cocaine supply chains, as use and transit routes extended to more countries, potentially altering the traditional power configuration of cocaine smuggling. This chapter revisits the implications of multiple power imbalances, their interaction with domestic politics, and the extent to which changes in the supply chain can alter the politics of cocaine smuggling.
Chapter 5 focuses on South America, the region where global cocaine flows originate, and where re... more Chapter 5 focuses on South America, the region where global cocaine flows originate, and where reform and debates about new domestic drug policies are likely to emerge. Despite the consensus on the need for change, this chapter argues there is little consensus on what this change entails, and that most governments still support the legal cornerstones of the International Drug Control Regime. The chapter contends that three factors influence the region’s endorsement for change: first, evolving US foreign policy; second, growing violence in the region; and third, changes in supply chain networks of cocaine. These have made intraregional and domestic markets more prominent, encouraging governments to recognize that drug policies have generated new problems. The chapter concludes by assessing the possibilities and obstacles for drug policy reform in the region.
... 264 R. Snyder, A. Duran-Martinez Page 13. ... For example, the capture of Benjamin Arellano F... more ... 264 R. Snyder, A. Duran-Martinez Page 13. ... For example, the capture of Benjamin Arellano Felix from the Tijuana Cartel in 2002 and the extradition to the United States of Osiel Cárdenas Guillen of the Gulf Cartel in 200720, shifted lines of command and ...
Uploads
Papers by Angelica DuranMartinez
pertinencia de negociar con grupos armados
“criminales” que no tienen una agenda
ideológica, se multiplicaron en América Latina.En este ensayo presento algunas ideas
para entender de dónde y cómo surgen estos
procesos (especialmente aquellos en donde
participa el Estado), qué condiciones explican su
impacto, y los desafíos de aplicar principios de
negociación y construcción de paz en contextos
de violencia criminal.
pertinencia de negociar con grupos armados
“criminales” que no tienen una agenda
ideológica, se multiplicaron en América Latina.En este ensayo presento algunas ideas
para entender de dónde y cómo surgen estos
procesos (especialmente aquellos en donde
participa el Estado), qué condiciones explican su
impacto, y los desafíos de aplicar principios de
negociación y construcción de paz en contextos
de violencia criminal.