Criminal Politics and Botched Development in Contemporary Latin America

This book investigates the relationship between the narcotics industry and politics and assesses how such links influence domestic political dynamics and economic development prospects in Latin America. It argues that links between criminal organizations, politicians, and state agents are engendering what we conceptualize as criminal politics (i.e., the interrelated activity of politicians, organized crime actors, and state agents in pursuing their respective agendas and goals). Criminal politics, it is posited, is upending traditional dynamics, changing how countries function politically and, consequently, impacting the prospects and nature of their social and economic development. The book also claims that different manifestations of criminal politics arise depending on how different phases of drug-trafficking activity (e.g., production, trafficking, and money laundering) interact with countries' distinct politico-institutional endowments. The argument is probed through the systematic examination of four cases that have received scant attention from the specialized literature: Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.