Shooting Up Counterinsurgency & the War on Drugs
Author | : | Vanda Felbab Brown |
Year of Publication | : | 2010 |
Publisher | : | Pentagon Press |
ISBN - 13 | : | 9788182744868 |
Edition | : | First |
Language | : | English |
Binding | : | Hardcover |
Subject | : | Counterinsurgency |
About the Book :
Most policymakers see counterinsurgency and counternarcotics
policy as two sides of the same coin. Stop the flow of drug money, the logic
goes, and the insurgency will wither away. But the conventional wisdom is
dangerously wrongheaded, as Vanda Felbab-Brown argues in Shooting Up.
Counternarcotics campaigns, particularly those focused on eradication,
typically fail to bankrupt belligerent groups that rely on the drug trade for
financing. Worse, they actually strengthen insurgents by increasing their
legitimacy and popular support.
Felbab-Brown, a leading expert on drug interdiction efforts and
counterinsurgency, draws on interviews and fieldwork in some of the world`s
most dangerous regions to explain how belligerent groups have become involved
in drug trafficking and related activities, including kidnapping, extortion,
and smuggling. Shooting Up shows vividly how powerful guerrilla and
terrorist organizations-including Peru`s Shining Path, the FARC and the
paramilitaries in Colombia, and the Taliban in Afghanistan-have learned to
exploit illicit markets. In addition, the author explores the interaction
between insurgent groups and illicit economies in frequently overlooked settings,
such as Northern Ireland, Turkey, and Burma.
While aggressive efforts to suppress the drug trade typically backfire, Shooting
Up shows that a laissez-faire policy toward illicit crop cultivation can
reduce support for the belligerents and, critically, increase cooperation with
government intelligence gathering. When combined with interdiction targeted at
major traffickers, this strategy gives policymakers a better chance of winning
both the war against the insurgents and the war on drugs.
About Author :
Vanda Felbab-Brown is a fellow in Foreign Policy Studies and a member of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution. She also teaches in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University`s School of Foreign Service. An expert on international and internal conflict issues, including counterinsurgency, she has published widely on the interaction between illicit economies and military conflict and has testified before Congress about her work. The research on which this book is based received the American Political Science Association`s Harold D. Lasswell Award for the Best Dissertation in the Field of Public Policy.