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concerns. The coercive powers of states, which are called in to weapons industries that fed the threat of war. maintain internal order and external security, tend to a large extent The two worlds of criminal entrepreneurs and coercive agencies to escape democratic control, as their ‘operational information’ of states are not separated by geographical boundaries, however; activity needs to be shielded from the outside world. Diminishing _ nor are they separated from the societies in which they function. accountability goes hand in hand with the increased powers As both increasingly attain transnational dimensions, they become assigned to coercive state agencies. more disposed to prevent themselves from being incorporated into However, more than this threat of free-floating state power, it is society and, hence, from being subordinate to democratic control. the subversive impact of international criminal organisations that At the same time, they increase their powers to penetrate the sov- undermines the very basis of the states and the societies they pre- ereignty of individuals and entire societies over the globe. oo side over. If indeed law enforcement directed against the drug industry is also counterproductive—and thus serves quite differ- Endnotes : ent political goals—this leaves us 8. The substances covered by this regime are expanding with technologi- cal developments in pharmacology, while new ‘designer’ drugs are rapidly Both sides of the law. although proliferating and being incorporated in ; the prohibition regime. The principal with a less than gloomy perspective for the future development and democratisation of our societies. TRANSNATIONAL formally opposed to each other. targets for control are opiates, followed DIMENSIONS inf y 2 h other’ , by coca and cannabis derivatives. Since the end of the Cold War, in fact enhance each other's Other substances with prohibited mark- the so-called New World Order— growth and therewith their ing are denominated by their active established under conditions of A A substances. increased globalisation and under- impact on the rest of society. 9. For an overview and analysis of the development of this global prohibition regime, see for instance Stein (1985), Gerritsen (1993) and Silvis (1993). 10. In June 1999, a new Dutch parlia- written by neoliberal reforms—is largely shaped by two forces: the visible hand of criminal forms of market control, and the extension of 5 : : mentary commission (Kalsbeek-com- the strong arm of the law in the national and international domain. mission) concluded that double-informants, with the help of drug These two forces of repression and subversion increasingly officers, had managed to import and market an additional 15,000 show the tendency to squeeze the populations of entire societies kilograms of cocaine (NRC, 10 June 1999). into a spiralling anarchy, endangering the constitutional state and 11. Asin many other black-market sectors such as illegal gam- the living conditions of its citizens. bling and prostitution, exchanges in the drug industry are of a con- Both sides of the law, although formally opposed to each other, sensual nature. The criminalisation of personal vice, as opposed in fact enhance each other's growth and therewith their impact on _ to some of the consequential social harm it inflicts on society, thus the rest of society. In their mutual (systemic) interactions, they _ !@ads to what some authors call 'victimless crime’. Both this con- sensual nature and the fact that prohibition pushes all exchanges underground, have far-reaching implications for the tactics of law enforcement agencies in the process of evidence-gathering, as par- permeate societies with a logic reminiscent of the way in which, during the Cold War, the two antagonistic superpowers and their milary industrial complexes on the one hand Tostered re contr ticipants are unlikely to issue complaints or invoke arbitrage from over their spheres of influence, and on the other han formal institutions, even when disputes arise. Moreover, many of incapacitated their populations to counter the pressures of vested the negative consequences associated with illegal drugs derive interests in a spiralling arms race that enhanced the income, _from the prohibition rather than the consumption of the prohibited prestige and power of military establishments and the profits of goods (Miron and Zwiebel, 1995). weapons industries that fed the threat of war. The two worlds of criminal entrepreneurs and coercive agencies of states are not separated by geographical boundaries, however; nor are they separated from the societies in which they function. As both increasingly attain transnational dimensions, they become more disposed to prevent themselves from being incorporated into society and, hence, from being subordinate to democratic control. At the same time, they increase their powers to penetrate the sov- ereignty of individuals and entire societies over the globe. oo Endnotes Both sides of the law, although formally opposed to each other, in fact enhance each other's growth and therewith their impact on the rest of society. Bibliography (continued) Drug Trade: Political Consequences and Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism, Arena: Reflections on the War on Drugs", International Policy at the Intersection of 1994, ibid., pp. 297-315. International Journal of the Sociology of Law Supply and Demand", United Nations = Youngers, Coletta, "La guerra en los Andes: 24, 1996. Research Institute for Social Development EI rol militar en la politica internacional de + Scott, Peter Dale and Jonathan Marshall, (UNRISD), Discussion Paper No. 19, March los Estados Unidos sobre la droga", Series Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies and the CIA 1991. breves de la oficina sobre Latinoamerica en in Central America, University of California Tullis, Lamond, "Unintended Washington (WOLA)/ CEDIB, December Press, Berkeley, 1991. Consequences: Illegal Drugs and Drug 1990. - Silvis, Jos, "Geschiedenis van de Policies in Nine Countries", Studies on the + Zwaap, René, "Hassans gecontroleerde Internationale Strijd tegen Drugs" Recht en Impact of the Illegal Drug Trade, Vol. IV, doorvoer", De Groene Amsterdammer, 14 Kritiek 19(2), 1993. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, Colorado, Fob ary 1996 : , = Smith, Peter H. (ed.), Drug Policies in the 1995. y . Americas, Westview Press, Boulder, ~* UNDCP (United Nations Drug Control Editor's Note: Colorado, 1992. Program), World Drug Report, 1997. Editor's Note: et . © Stein, $.D., International Diplomacy, State * Van der Vaeren, Charles, "The European ~ Hans T. van der Veen’s article is reprinted Administrators and Narcotics Control, Gower — Community's International Drug Control with permission from CEDRO, the Centre for Publishing Company Ltd, Aldershot, 1985. Cooperation Policy: A Personal View’, in Drug Research (Centrum voor = Strange, Susan, The Retreat of the State: Georges Estievenart (ed.), 1995, ibid., pp. Drugsonderzoek) at the University of The Diffusion of Power in the World 346-352. Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 Economy, Cambridge University Press, 1996. > Wilson, Suzanne and Marta Zambranao, VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands, telephone Thornton, Mark, The Economics of "Cocaine, Commodity Chains, and Drug +31 (20) 525 4061 /4280 /7432, fax +31 (20) Prohibition, University of Utah Press, 1991. Politics: A Transnational Approach", in Gary 525 4317, e-mail CEDRO@frw.uva.nl, website Tullis, Lamond, "Beneficiaries of the Illicit Gereffi and Miguel Korzeniewicz (eds), www.frw.uva.nl/cedro/. 30 + NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2000