The state as a facilitator in the illicit global political economy : Guinea-Bissau and the global cocaine trade

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research study aims to approach illicit market activity, particularly transnational organ-ised crime, from a political-economy point of view. The study of illicit market activity is characterised by various and often ambiguous concepts and approaches. The benefits of a political-economy approach include the provision of an alternative view of the illicit, combin-ing aspects from these various approaches. The study of the Global Political Economy (GPE) examines the relationship between authority, mostly in the form of states, and markets. This thesis looks at the relationship between the state and illicit markets. It does so by using the concept Illicit Global Political Economy (IGPE), which is defined as concerning the social, political and economic arrangements affecting the global systems of illicit production, ex-change and distribution, and the mix of values reflected therein. States, illicit markets and criminal actors are considered here as interdependent and interrelated parts of the IGPE spe-cifically, and the overall GPE. Within this relationship several „roles‟ of the state are identi-fied: the state as a creator and regulator of the illicit, through its legislative and executive au-thorities; the state as a locale of the illicit, as home, host, transhipment or service state for transnational criminal activities; the state as a victim of the illicit, for example, through the inherent nature of crime denying the state´s jurisdiction over its territory and also through the use of violence or corruption by criminals; and the state as a facilitator for illicit activity, meaning that certain characteristics of states can enable illicit activity. This thesis is primarily concerned with the last role of the state. It is argued that certain characteristics of states, par-ticularly weak and transitional states, enable the state´s exploitation by criminal actors. In the framework provided by Phil Williams (2002) seven of these characteristics are referred to as capacity gaps, which can result in functional holes, possibly enabling illicit activity. The pri-mary research question of this thesis is, consequently: Is the role of the state as a facilitator in the IGPE enabled by the existence of capacity gaps and functional holes?The West African state of Guinea-Bissau has been chosen as a case study for its role as a transhipment state in the global cocaine trade. In the first part of the analytical process of this thesis, the global cocaine trade and its historical development are described and analysed for the social, political and economic arrangements affecting it. This highlights the im-portance of taking into account these arrangements for a full understanding of the illicit. Addi-tionally, an analysis of the political-economy of Guinea-Bissau provides the necessary back-ground for understanding the second part of this thesis´ approach. Here, the state of Guinea-Bissau is examined firstly for the existence of capacity gaps and functional holes. If they arefound to exist, whether and how they are being used by cocaine traffickers is examined. It was found that six out of seven capacity gaps exist in Guinea-Bissau, most of which are being used by the cocaine traffickers. The involvement of the military in the drug trade in combina-tion with its apparent extra-judicial standing is found to be of particular importance for the cocaine traffickers. This analysis allows for the research question to be answered positively. Moreover, the thesis can be considered to generally affirm the usefulness of a political-economy approach to analysing the illicit and affirms specifically the usefulness of the con-cept of the IGPE.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University