scholarly journals Taboo or pragmatism? Lopez Obrador’s dilemma over drug trafficking

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-85
Author(s):  
Esteban Arratia Sandoval ◽  
Aldo Garrido Quiroz
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Illicit Market ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Damage Limitation

During his election campaign, the new president of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, proposed to grant an amnesty to those involved in drug production and trafficking in order to end the war on drugs, thus moving between taboo and pragmatism. Undoubtedly, this initiative is a radical change in the state approach to this conflict, as it involves typical tools of a peace process, such as demobilization, reintegration and transitional justice. But what are the main risks of this offer? This reflection paper aims to answer this question, analyzing, from a qualitative approach, the main constraints of this proposal. The main conclusion is that an amnesty is only a damage limitation strategy since it does not seek to de-escalate the illicit market, but to model its behavior—low profile, with no open confrontation position, and moderate mortality rates.

Part II UN Core Conventions on Transnational Organised Crime, 6 The Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988 and the Global War on Drugs

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vogler Richard ◽  
Fouladvand Shahrzad
Keyword(s):  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Loss Of Life ◽  
Psychotropic Substances ◽  
Global War ◽  
Control Regime ◽  
Illicit Traffic ◽  
Narcotic Drugs

This chapter examines the origins of the global drug control regime that was established between 1961 and 1988, the cornerstone of which is the Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988 (the Trafficking Convention). It attempts to explain how the humanistic and philanthropic enterprise represented by the Trafficking Convention and supported by overwhelming international sentiment has become distorted by state policy and organised crime to become the source of wars, offending, disease, and loss of life on an unprecedented scale. It suggests that the unremittingly penal and prohibitive approach to the problem of illicit drugs represented by the Trafficking Convention has served only to magnify the criminality associated with drug trafficking and it concludes by considering the ways in which states have sought to escape from the Convention’s restrictions as well as investigating contemporary moves for reform.

Mexico and the R2P Challenge: The Commitment Trap

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-50
Author(s):  
Arturo C. Sotomayor
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Latin American Country ◽  
Critical Case ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
International Commitments ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
Critical Case Study

In recent years, Mexico has presented mostly favourable views of the R2P concept. This is a radical change, since historically it had been a strong advocate of non-intervention norms. This essay argues that Mexico’s R2P position has been shaped and constrained by two incoherent domestic narratives: democratization and the war on drugs. These two narratives have led to an inconsistent and ambiguous record of compliance with human rights norms and R2P principles. Mexican authorities, who had been championing for the implementation of R2P, have now become victims of their own international commitments. This Latin American country thus needs to reconcile its two distinct domestic agendas if it aims to be seen as an R2P advocate. The goal of this study is to explore the inherent complex and at times contradictory relationship between domestic demands for democratization and securitization and R2P commitments, using Mexico as a critical case study.

Research on Upper Level Drug Trafficking: A Review

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 827-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick Desroches
Keyword(s):  
Organized Crime ◽  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Drug Markets ◽  
Niche Markets ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Drug Traffickers ◽  
The Uk

This article examines research on upper level drug traffickers in the U.S., the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands. Included is an analysis and critique of typologies of drug traffickers and theoretical models of organized crime as they apply to upper level drug networks. Studies of higher level drug trafficking indicate that drug markets represent informal and loosely organized associations of relatively small syndicates or crews of independent drug entrepreneurs. They compete for market share and deal primarily or exclusively with trusted associates chosen from ethnic, kinship, and friendship networks. Most dealers are highly cautious, eschew the use of violence, typically make huge profits, attempt to maintain a low profile, rationalize their conduct as business activity, and operate within geographically niche markets.

scholarly journals When the Future is Not Bright: Social and Political Stakes in Discussing Childhood Cancer in Romanian Media

Children ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Teodorescu ◽  
Chiribucă
Keyword(s):  
Childhood Cancer ◽  
Death And Dying ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Death Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
The Times ◽  
Cultural Constructions ◽  
Inherent Part

In contemporary societies’ perception of children, death plays an incredibly insignificant role. This role goes from being ornamental, a weak reminder that our civilisation has overcome the times of children’s high mortality rates, to being some other society’s concern. Despite both medical improvements and cultural constructions of the child as an immanent and social transcendence, children can and do die. Although an increasing number of recent studies disclose and legitimise children’s preoccupation with death and dying in the context of a popular culture fascinated with death, studies interested in the representations of death and dying in children are rather scant. In this article, we investigate the social and political stakes in discussing children’s cancer in today’s Romanian media, aiming to make visible how the illustrations of the connections between children, death and illness are never ethically neutral. We begin with the observation that, during recent years, there has been a growing media focus on childhood cancer in Romania. Adopting a qualitative approach and resorting to comparative analysis, we analyse what lies beneath the intentions of criticising troublesome socio-political or medical realities of childhood cancer, revealing the mechanisms through which childhood cancer is transformed into a social illness and the cultural implications for the acceptance of death as an inherent part of life both for children and the population as a whole.

Coercive Inclusion in the Mexican War on Drugs: A Field Study of Human Rights and the State in Michoacán

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 91-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Wolfesberger
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
Private Property ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Moral Rights ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Mexican War ◽  
Drug Trafficking Organizations ◽  
Derechos Humanos

Qualitative ethnographic study of the human rights violations committed in the course of the militarized combat against drug trafficking organizations in rural Michoacán unmasks state practices of coercive inclusion. The violation of human rights and the subsequent processing of human rights claims paradoxically bind the marginalized population to the formal state and foster its subordination. The practical configuration of the current arena of human rights is not the lever for a democratic, inclusive Mexico but a curtain that conceals the repressive practices that it makes possible. In the processing of human rights complaints, the legal rights of physical integrity and private property become moral rights with no effect of legal justice. Un estudio etnográfico cualitativo sobre las violaciones a los derechos humanos cometidas durante la lucha militarizada contra las organizaciones de tráfico de drogas en el Michoacán rural sirve para desenmascarar las prácticas de inclusión coercitiva del Estado. Las violaciones y el posterior procesamiento de las denuncias paradójicamente vinculan a la población marginada con el Estado oficial, fomentando su subordinación. La configuración práctica del actual contexto de los derechos humanos no funge como la palanca de un México democrático e inclusivo, sino como una cortina que oculta las prácticas represivas que el Estado hace posibles. En la tramitación de las denuncias sobre violación de derechos humanos, los derechos legales de la integridad física y la propiedad privada se convierten en derechos morales sin ningún efecto de justicia legal.

Transitional justice and the International Criminal Court – in “the interests of justice”?

2007 ◽  
Vol 89 (867) ◽  
pp. 691-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dražan Đukić
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Prosecutorial Discretion ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Treaty Interpretation

AbstractTransitional justice encompasses a number of mechanisms that seek to allow post-conflict societies to deal with past atrocities in circumstances of radical change. However, two of these mechanisms – truth commissions and criminal processes – might clash if the former are combined with amnesties. This article examines the possibility of employing the Rome Statute's Article 53 so as to allow these two mechanisms to operate in a complementary manner. It considers three arguments – an interpretation of Article 53 in accordance with the relevant rules on treaty interpretation, states' obligations to prosecute certain crimes and the Rome Statute's approach to prosecutorial discretion – and concludes that Article 53 is ill-suited to accommodate truth commissions in conjunction with amnesties.

scholarly journals Connections between trades and trafficking in wildlife and drugs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daan van Uhm ◽  
Nigel South ◽  
Tanya Wyatt
Keyword(s):  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Illegal Trade ◽  
Illicit Markets ◽  
Illicit Market ◽  
International Attention ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Wildlife Trafficking ◽  
Single Commodity

AbstractWhilst drug trafficking has been a concern for several decades, wildlife trafficking has only fairly recently garnered international attention. Often media coverage of wildlife trafficking links it to the illegal trade of drugs. This article analyses wildlife and drug trafficking connections of various kinds. The purpose is to reveal the overlaps and synergies of wildlife and drug trafficking, providing concrete examples of where these markets co-exist as well as intertwine based on literature and original fieldwork. It explores the question of ‘Why in some cases, an illicit market remains focused on a single commodity, whilst in others it accommodates a combination of illicit commodities?’ This study identifies different types of wildlife-drugs linkages, including combined contraband, camouflage, multiple trade lines, shared smuggling routes and transportation methods, barter trade, and laundering drug money. The article shows that illicit markets are complex and the examples of activities and transactions that are provided illuminate some of the different dimensions of converging and diverging trades involving wildlife and drugs.

scholarly journals Drug-Trafficking in Colombia: The New Civil War Against Democracy and Peacebuilding

Co-herencia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (34) ◽  
pp. 157-192
Author(s):  
Maria Paula Espejo
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Drug Trafficking Organizations ◽  
Approaches To Study

Drug-trafficking in Colombia has been a widely researched phenomenon, especially now, as the country undergoes a transition process with its older guerrilla. Now more than ever it is fundamental to examine how drug-trafficking organizations violent activities affect the consolidation of peace. This article considers different approaches to study violence derived from drug-trafficking, in order to advance towards the objectives of transitional justice. For that matter, this work is based on the idea that drug-trafficking directly generates and reproduces violence which is fueled by the structural violence present in the Colombian context. My thesis is that this phenomenon deters non-repetition guarantees and weakens democracy, which is why there will be three main arguments presented that will revolve around the lack of consensus and the implications of considering drug wars as civil wars, how decisions related to the conceptual apprehension limit the competence of international humanitarian law, and the need for holistic strategies capable of facing drug-trafficking’s political and violent power. Later, alternatives will be explored around the possibilities that each argument offers, as well as which aspects could contribute to a more appropriate approach to combat drug-trafficking. Lastly, I will defend why implementing bottom-up oriented actions can advance towards transitional justice’s intermediate and final objectives, as it is the only alternative that escapes fatalist, utopian or interventionist scenarios.

scholarly journals The Salman Mosque: The Pioneer of the Mosque Design Idea, the Driving Force Behind the Coinage of the Term ‘Campus Mosque’ in Indonesia

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhini Dewiyanti ◽  
Bambang Setia Budi
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Existential Meaning ◽  
Design Idea ◽  
Explorative Interviews

This article is a part of a journey to understand the existential meaning of the Salman Mosque. One of the topics to be raised is the knowledge that the Salman mosque is capable of becoming a reformer in various fields. The focus of discussion is on the design idea and the Salman Mosque as the pioneer for coinage of the term ‘campus mosque’ in Indonesia. The design of the Salman Mosque that brought about a radical change in its beginning, established the Salman mosque as reformer. Through the qualitative approach conducted between 2011 until 2015, information was obtained through explorative interviews with the mosque architects: Achmad Noeman and those involved with the daily activities of the mosque such as: management, members of mosque units and divisions, residents of the mosque dormitory and prominent figures of society. This assessment is expected to be able to provide knowledge on the Salman mosque especially as it is associated with the term ‘campus mosque’.

scholarly journals US IN LATIN AMERICA: KEY CURRENT INTERESTS AND METHODS OF THEIR ADVANCEMENT

2017 ◽  
pp. 52-66
Author(s):  
T. Kulinich
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Drug Trafficking ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
War On Drugs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Us Economy ◽  
The Us ◽  
Latin American Countries

The present article reviews the current set of interests of the United States of America in respect of Latin American countries. The author believes that the key groups of interests pursued by the US in Latin America are as follows: political and security interests, economic interests, and combined interests, the most important of the latter being the interests relating to combating drug trafficking. The author believes that the economic interest, albeit being a secondary one in terms of formal hierarchy of interests, is in fact one of the core US interests in the region at present. The US is interested to preserve its influence upon the Latin American market, and further engage the Latin American workforce and industrial capacities to the benefit of the US economy. The US pursues its interests in Latin America, inter alia, through various integration projects, including NAFTA, CAFTA-DR, FTAA, and a range of free trade areas. The article also addresses the interest of the US in the field of prevention of drug trafficking, which constitutes an important area of cooperation between the US and the Latin American countries concerned. The author argues that, despite the fact that the current outcomes of the ongoing war on drugs may be perceived as controversial, the issue in question serves as a strong factor contributing to the growth of the US influence over, and its presence within, the region. The article also reviews key methods used by the US to further its interests in Latin America, including the classical methods and those relating to soft power.

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