Citation

Avilés W. Bull. Latin Am. Res. 2008; 27(3): 410-429.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Society for Latin American Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1470-9856.2008.00277.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In July 2000, US President, Bill Clinton, signed into law the aid package popularly known as ‘Plan Colombia’. Foreign policy analysts examining the ‘US drug war’ have generally focused upon the perceived national security interests of the US state and/or the intermestic nature of domestic politics, or the economic interests of an imperial US state in explaining US drug policy. I posit that the development, initiation and implementation of Plan Colombia cannot solely be understood through these various nation-state paradigms, as this process was aided by, and facilitated through, an incipient transnational state. The emergence and consolidation into power of a neoliberal state within Colombia, the role of transnational lobbying by US and Colombian policy-makers, as well as the influence of transnational corporations all played instrumental roles in the initiation, development and implementation of Plan Colombia.