School of Social & Political Sciences

Details to be confirmed. Please sign-up to the GLARN mailing list for latest updates.

Book synopsis

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 America. Allan 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

"Grounded in nuanced political and historical research, Narco-Democratization offers a solid, empirically grounded analysis of relationships between political leaders and drug trafficking organizations in Bolivia. The book’s analytical framework offers a new way of thinking about complex patterns of state-criminal relations that can inform broader discussions about corruption and criminalization patterns in authoritarian and democratic systems. This is an important contribution to debates not just about crime and violence, but also about democracy and authoritarianism in Latin America." Enrique Desmond Arias, City University of New York