Departamento de Ciencia Política y Estudios Internacionales

Ciencia Política y
Estudios Internacionales

Una sólida formación multidisciplinaria para
analizar problemáticas complejas en un contexto cambiante.

En los medios

The Hill
18/05/16

A new war on the horizon?

Por Juan Gabriel Tokatlian

The recent United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS 2016) ended up with both a bittersweet taste and a disturbing message for the global anti-prohibitionist movement. On the one hand, a potential and progressive reform of the international regime on illicit drugs was aborted, but also the invocation and support for the failed "war on drugs" was left aside, at least in the West: no major change mixed with less belligerent discourse. On the other hand, it is now more apparent that a novel world crusade may be on the making: the "war on organized crime".

Indeed, UNGASS 2016 should be located in a historical and comparative context. This is the third global summit on drugs: was preceded by a first UNGASS 1990 and a second UNGASS 1998. The 2016 special session came after the specific incorporation of the issue of organized crime on the agenda of the Security Council of the UN and the initiation of the 2009 anti-narcotics Action Plan by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

UNGASS 1990 is still remembered—in particular, in Latina America-- because it epitomized the strengthening of the logic of the "war on drugs". In the twilight of the Cold War and due to unparalleled strong US pressure on Latin America that crusade had its epicenter in the region: Colombia first and Mexico and Central America afterwards were the scenario of a bloody, irregular war on an illegal substance. The emphasis of this first UNGASS was plant-based illicit drugs and its fight without quarter despite recurring fiascos.

Near a decade later and in the final political declaration of UNGASS 1998 the issue of organized crime became more prominent. The main concern was about the ties between illicit drug production, narcotics trafficking, the involvement of terrorist groups and the empowerment of transnational delinquency. This linkage, in turn, coincided with what became known as the rise of the so called hybrid "new threats" that appeared (and appear) as intertwined and feeding back setting a major challenge to national and international security; a perilous phenomenon that requires not only the intervention of the police, other security forces, and intelligence agencies, but also the active participation of the armed forces. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States and the ongoing instability in Northern Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia reinforced the notion of high risk emanating from the "new threats".

2009 will be a key moment in terms of the organized crime-drug trade link. On the initiative of African countries a significant first meeting in the Security Council on the issue was held: the gathering had the approval of the five permanent members of the Security Council and was agreed upon due to accelerated growth of the drug business in West Africa, the increasing danger from narco-violence in several countries, and the proliferation of failed states across the continent. On that same year UNODC Action Plan was launched; an ambitious prohibitionist blueprint where the key challenge of organized crime and its direct relation to drugs was emphasized three times.

So even before UNGASS 2016 the issue of organized crime was gaining momentum in the fight against drugs. Two different approaches seemed to guide the debate over the last few years. One stressed the centrality of the issue as a security problem; that is, a viewpoint under which the amalgam of transnational crime, global terrorism, and world drug trade was understood as virtually inevitable and, thus, should be answered with broad and persistent hardline policies. The other addressed the issue as a governance problem that required a diverse set of social, economic and political initiatives to overcome it: the rise of organized crime is related to a country’s internal institutional framework and its external vulnerability. In effect, organized crime undermines democracy; weakens the rule of law; facilitates corruption; increases social injustice; produces direct and indirect costs on the economy; exacerbates a sub-culture that rewards illegality; degrades the political system; affects national sovereignty; and reduces state autonomy on the international front. The first perspective was manifested primarily by several states from the North and the South alike; the second perspective was invoked mainly by non-governmental actors.

The final document of UNGASS 2016 is certainly a milestone that provides clues to understanding the contours and content that can take the century-old, always-relabeled prohibitionist paradigm. In the 27 pages text there was not a single reference to harm reduction as a sound, more humane and less costly policy aimed at mitigating the negative impact of drugs on people, families, and neighborhoods. However, the disruptive menace of "organized crime" was mentioned nine times. In that sense, and in in the midst of a turbulent world disorder, it is most likely that a securitized standpoint more than a governance outlook will gather momentum in the years to come.

Maybe the “war on drugs” is over, at least in the West and in terms of rhetoric: now China is talking about the merits of a “popular war on drugs”, while Russia is promoting a “total war on drugs”. Notwithstanding the “war on organized crime” seem to be looming into the horizon. And if this happens, let us all be clear: it is highly probable that the new crusade will be deployed, again, in Latin America thanks, to a great extent, to the United States and its repeated failure to grasp the fact that the “center of gravity” of the drug phenomenon is prohibition. On this issue there may be no great difference between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton: they are both hawkish when dealing with security-defined “new threats” questions.

Juan Gabriel Tokatlian, Ph-D, is an Associate Professor at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (Buenos Aires, Argentina). 

Conocé nuestros programas

Nuestra oferta académica está diseñada para formar profesionales capaces de liderar en ámbitos académicos, políticos y sociales.

Aprendé con
los mejores

Nuestro cuerpo docente se distingue por su rigurosa formación doctoral en las universidades más prestigiosas del mundo. Su alta dedicación y su conocimiento y experiencia internacional los habilitan para desempeñarse exitosamente en distintos ámbitos y proveer a los/as estudiantes de una sólida formación multidisciplinaria.



#1
en Argentina para dictar
clases de grado y posgrado.
Fuente: Ranking Teaching, Research and International Policy (TRIP) International Relations Survey, 2014.
150
La Di Tella está entre las 150 mejores universidades del mundo en el área de Ciencia Política.
(Fuente: QS World University Rankings 2023)


Conocé a nuestro cuerpo docente

Jennifer Cyr
Ph.D. in Political Science, Northwestern University.

Sebastián Etchemendy
Ph.D. in Political Science, University of California at Berkeley.

Enrique Peruzzotti
Ph.D. in Sociology, New School for Social Research.

Catalina Smulovitz
Ph.D. in Political Science, The Pennsylvania State University.

Hayley Stevenson
Ph.D. in International Relations, University of Adelaide.

Juan Carlos Torre
Docteur en Sociologie, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.


Intercambio Di Tella

La Di Tella te abre
las puertas al mundo

Creemos en que tener una formación multicultural es esencial para el desarrollo humano y el futuro profesional de nuestros estudiantes.

Te ofrecemos la posibilidad de realizar intercambios académicos y programas de doble titulación, para que puedas acceder a una experiencia universitaria internacional y transformarte en un profesional con visión global.


CONOCÉ MÁS


Cátedras y centros de investigación

Cátedra Colombia

Un espacio académico para el análisis, conocimiento y difusión del país de manera integral. Tiene el propósito de establecer un ámbito plural desde el cual enriquecer el diálogo entre Argentina y Colombia.

Ver más

Cátedra Francia

Una iniciativa conjunta de la Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, la Embajada de Francia en Argentina y el Instituto Franco Argentino que tiene por objetivo promover el intercambio académico y el diálogo.

Ver más

Proyecto Tiempo
de cambios en Cuba

El proyecto "Tiempo de cambios y el nuevo rol de las fuerzas armadas en Cuba" busca informar a actores que sean disidentes y críticos de las fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Cuba (FAR) de dos maneras diferentes.

Ver más

Departamento de Admisiones


Contacto