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The Drug Trade and State Violence in Internal Conflicts: Evidence from Peru

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2021

Angélica Durán-Martínez Open the ORCID record for Angélica Durán-Martínez [Opens in a new window]  and
Hillel David Soifer Open the ORCID record for Hillel David Soifer [Opens in a new window]
Angélica Durán-Martínez
Affiliation:
Angélica Durán-Martínez is an associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA, USA. Angélica_duranmartinez@uml.edu
Hillel David Soifer
Affiliation:
Hillel David Soifer is an associate professor of political science at Temple University, PhiladelphiaPA, USA. hsoifer@temple.edu
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Abstract

Most literature on drugs and conflict focuses on how the drug trade affects insurgent behavior, paying little attention to its effect on state behavior in conflict settings. This article begins to address this gap by analyzing the impact of drugs on state violence during the internal conflict in Peru (1980–2000), which, in the 1980s, was the world’s major producer of coca for the international drug trade. Drawing on literature on criminal violence and on drug policy, this study theorizes militarization as the main channel by which drug production affects how state forces treat the civilian population during internal conflicts, though it also explores a second channel associated with corruption. The analysis finds that, all else equal, drug-producing localities saw increased state violence in ways consistent with the militarization channel.

Keywords

CocaviolencedrugsinsurgencymilitarizationcorruptionPeru
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 63 , Issue 4 , November 2021 , pp. 96 - 123
Copyright
© The Authors 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

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Footnotes

Conflict of interest: We, the authors, declare no conflicts of interest.

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