U.S. Wars in the light of the international drug trade

Abstract

The United States since World War Two, inheriting the patterns of European colonial systems before it, has collaborated with local drug lords (“drug proxies”) to maintain its influence in the Third World, particularly in areas of geostrategic importance because of their proximity to petroleum resources. These alliances have cumulatively strengthened the U.S. presence in the Third World. But they have also progressively strengthened and consolidated the global drug traffic throughout the world. Most recently, in 2001, U.S. armed force has helped restore the drug traffic to Afghanistan, where opium production had been radically curtailed by the Taliban.

Citation

Dale Scott, P. (2002), "U.S. Wars in the light of the international drug trade", Zarembka, P. (Ed.) Confronting 9-11, Ideologies of Race, and Eminent Economists (Research in Political Economy, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 63-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0161-7230(02)20003-6