Shooting Up: Counterinsurgency and the War on Drugs

by Vanda Felbab-Brown

" Most policymakers see counterinsurgency and counternarcotics policy as two sides of the same coin. Stop the flow of drug money, the logic goes, and the insurgency will wither away. But the conventional wisdom is dangerously wrongheaded, as Vanda Felbab-Brown argues in Shooting Up . Counternarcotics campaigns, particularly those focused on eradication, typically fail to bankrupt belligerent groups that rely on the drug trade for financing. Worse, they actually strengthen insurgents by increasing their legitimacy and popular support. Felbab-Brown, a leading expert on drug interdiction efforts and counterinsurgency, draws on interviews and fieldwork in some of the world's most dangerous regions to explain how belligerent groups have become involved in drug trafficking and related activities, including kidnapping, extortion, and smuggling. Shooting Up shows vividly how powerful guerrilla and terrorist organizations — including Peru's Shining Path, the FARC and the paramilitaries in Colombia, and the Taliban in Afghanistan — have learned to exploit illicit markets. In addition, the author explores the interaction between insurgent groups and illicit economies in frequently overlooked settings, such as Northern Ireland, Turkey, and Burma. While aggressive efforts to suppress the drug trade typically backfire, Shooting Up shows that a laissez-faire policy toward illicit crop cultivation can reduce support for the belligerents and, critically, increase cooperation with government intelligence gathering. When combined with interdiction targeting major traffickers, this strategy gives policymakers a better chance of winning both the war against the insurgents and the war on drugs. "

Genres: Drugs

273 pages, Hardcover

First published November 24, 2009

Reviews

[Madighan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most heartfelt thank you to Vanda Felbab-Brown for CARRYING me through my research essay🙏

[Roy]

pretty solid. an indictment of eradication as a method of dealing with narcotics, particularly when there are linkages to an insurgency, because of the political capital that the illicit economy/system can provide to the insurgency.

only change i would have made is what Vanda calls "political capital", i think could more accurately be described as "social capital", perhaps meaningless semantics but worth a thought.

Good Book, glad I read it.

oh also it is good and presents what not to do, but it is a damn hard problem and there isn't a quick easy good solution, or even a hard but possible knowable solution, as far as I'm concerned right now. So not a dig, but just a thing.

[Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for anyone inbound to Afhganistan or involved in national policy on Afghanistan. A well written treatise by a brilliant lady that explains the counterintuitive relationships in illicit economies between insurgents, traffickers, farmers, military/police, and government policy. Dr. F-B introduces the concept of political capital in the mix of illicit economies that helps explain the difficulties of an extradition-focused counter-narcotic policy. Outstanding summary at the end of the pros and cons of various government policies.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good book to describe the challenges of an insurgency. This book specifically discusses ties to the drug trade in various places around the world: Afghanistan, south America, etc. Heard leadership in Afghanistan say things that seemed to come straight out of this book.