Challenges of organised community resistance in the context of illicit economies and drug war policies: insights from Colombia

Maria Vélez and Iván Lobo

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: The voice and role of communities, particularly their capacity to organise and resist, has been understudied in the specialised literature on illicit crops and largely ignored in policy debates. Based on ongoing research in Colombia, this policy paper explores the capacity of communities to organise and resist – as a manifestation of cultural and social capital – in the context of illicit economies. The paper argues that in the context of weak states, the effectiveness of drug policies could be enhanced by drawing upon and investing in communities’ organisational capacity and active local leadership to increase the non-monetary benefits of eradication and substitution. Acknowledging how resistance reflects the experiences of communities and responds to their different needs, the paper offers relevant insights for policy that can inform drug policy formulation in Colombia and similar contexts.

Keywords: Resistance; coca cultivation; cultural and social capital; drug policy formulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-01-14
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published in Journal of Illicit Economies and Development, 14, January, 2019, 1(1), pp. 72-79. ISSN: 2516-7227

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/100325/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:100325

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().