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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Narco-Democratization: Organized Crime and Political Transition in Bolivia

Narco-Democratization: Organized Crime and Political Transition in Bolivia

Gillies, Allan

Hardcover

Series: Pitt Latin American

CriminologyGeneral Political Science

ISBN10: 0822948915
ISBN13: 9780822948919
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Published: Apr 21 2026
Pages: 216
Weight: 1.01
Height: 0.63 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
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.

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