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The Architecture of Drug Trafficking: Network Forms of Organisation in the Colombian Cocaine Trade

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  • Michael Kenney

Abstract

For much of the past twenty-five years, the US-led war on drugs has been premised on a fundamental misunderstanding of Colombian drug trade. Instead of being run by a handful of massive, price-fixing ‘cartels’, the Colombian drug trade, then and now, was characterized by a fluid social system where flexible exchange networks expanded and retracted according to market opportunities and regulatory constraints. To support this interpretation, I draw on primary and secondary source data I collected in Colombia and the US, including interviews with several dozen hard-to-reach informants. I analyze these data to analyze the organisational form and functioning of ‘Colombian’ trafficking networks, focusing on how these illicit enterprises communicate, coordinate their activities, and make decisions, with an eye towards deflating some of the more persistent myths that have grown up around these transnational enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Kenney, 2007. "The Architecture of Drug Trafficking: Network Forms of Organisation in the Colombian Cocaine Trade," Global Crime, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 233-259, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:fglcxx:v:8:y:2007:i:3:p:233-259
    DOI: 10.1080/17440570701507794
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    Cited by:

    1. Giovanni Immordino & Salvatore Piccolo & Paolo Roberti, 2018. "Criminal Networks, Market Externalities and Optimal Leniency," CSEF Working Papers 519, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy.
    2. Manzi, Deborah & Calderoni, Francesco, 2024. "The resilience of drug trafficking organizations: Simulating the impact of police arresting key roles," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Alexandra-Maria Bocse, 0. "Hybrid transnational advocacy networks in environmental protection: banning the use of cyanide in European gold mining," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-19.
    4. James Kostelnik & David Skarbek, 2013. "The governance institutions of a drug trafficking organization," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 95-103, July.
    5. Morgan Burcher & Chad Whelan, 2015. "Social network analysis and small group ‘dark’ networks: an analysis of the London bombers and the problem of ‘fuzzy’ boundaries," Global Crime, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 104-122, April.
    6. Hübschle, Annette, 2015. "Economic sociology and opportunities for organized crime research," economic sociology. perspectives and conversations, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, vol. 16(3), pages 38-41.
    7. Alexandra-Maria Bocse, 2021. "Hybrid transnational advocacy networks in environmental protection: banning the use of cyanide in European gold mining," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 285-303, June.

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