Citation

De Danieli F. Int. J. Drug Policy 2014; 25(6): 1235-1240.

Affiliation

Independent Scholar, via Marin 16, Padova, Italy. Electronic address: dedafari@libero.it.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.01.013

PMID

24589411

Abstract

BACKGROUND: In the wake of collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asia has transformed into a key hub along the Afghan opiates trafficking routes. Around 30 percent of the heroin manufactured in Afghanistan is estimated to be smuggled through Central Asian republics in its way to booming drug markets in Russia and Eastern Europe. METHODS: Building upon available evidence and extensive fieldwork research, the article seeks to confute mainstream analyses which emphasize connections between criminal and terrorist networks. The focus is on conducive factors for the establishment of drug routes in Central Asia, the characteristics of drug related networks, and the nature of political-criminal relations across the region. RESULTS: It is argued that in all five Central Asia republics strategic partnerships have formed between drug traffickers and state actors around the exploitation of drug rents and that mafias' influence on politics is stronger in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the region's poorest countries. CONCLUSION: By moving the focus from narco-terror the state-crime connections, the article provides a critical insight into political economy issues surrounding a complex and multifaceted phenomenon such as the drug trade.

Language: en