IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/apsrev/v114y2020i3p874-887_17.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Logic of Violence in Drug War

Author

Listed:
  • CASTILLO, JUAN CAMILO
  • KRONICK, DOROTHY

Abstract

Drug traffickers sometimes share profits peacefully. Other times they fight. We propose a model to investigate this variation, focusing on the role of the state. Seizing illegal goods can paradoxically increase traffickers’ profits, and higher profits fuel violence. Killing kingpins makes crime bosses short-sighted, also fueling conflict. Only by targeting the most violent traffickers can the state reduce violence without increasing supply. These results help explain empirical patterns of violence in drug war, which is less studied than are interstate or civil war but often as deadly.

Suggested Citation

  • Castillo, Juan Camilo & Kronick, Dorothy, 2020. "The Logic of Violence in Drug War," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 114(3), pages 874-887, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:114:y:2020:i:3:p:874-887_17
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055420000246/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Giacomo Battiston & Gianmarco Daniele & Marco Le Moglie & Paolo Pinotti, 2022. "Fueling Organized Crime: The Mexican War on Drugs and Oil Thefts," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0286, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    2. Stefano Barbieri & Marco Serena, 2021. "Reputation for Toughness," Working Papers tax-mpg-rps-2021-16, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance.
    3. Maria Micaela Sviatschi, 2022. "Making a NARCO: Childhood Exposure to Illegal Labor Markets and Criminal Life Paths," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(4), pages 1835-1878, July.
    4. Mascarúa Lara Miguel A., 2022. "Imperfect Law Enforcement, Informality, and Organized Crime," Working Papers 2022-16, Banco de México.
    5. Michael Gibilisco, 2023. "Mowing the grass," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 35(3), pages 204-231, July.
    6. Anna Laura Baraldi & Erasmo Pagani & Marco Stimolo, 2023. "Neutralizing the Tentacles of Organized Crime. Assessment of the Impact of an Anti-Crime Measure on Mafia Violence in Italy," Working Papers 2023.10, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    7. Cepeda-Francese, Camilo A. & Ramírez-Álvarez, Aurora A., 2023. "Reforming justice under a security crisis: The case of the criminal justice reform in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    8. Blattman, Christopher & Lessing, Benjamin & Tobon, Santiago & Duncan, Gustavo, 2021. "Gang rule: Understanding and Countering Criminal Governance," SocArXiv 5nyqs, Center for Open Science.
    9. Herrera, Joel Salvador & Martinez-Alvarez, Cesar B., 2022. "Diversifying violence: Mining, export-agriculture, and criminal governance in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    10. Anna Laura Baraldi & Erasmo Pagani & Marco Stimolo, 2022. "Neutralizing the Tentacles of Organized Crime. Assessment of an Anti-Crime Measure in Fighting Mafia Violence," Working Papers 2022.18, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    11. Baraldi, Anna Laura & Papagni, Erasmo & Stimolo, Marco, 2024. "Neutralizing the tentacles of organized crime. Assessment of the impact of an anti-crime measure on mafia violence in Italy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 57-85.
    12. Trudeau, Jessie, 2022. "Limiting aggressive policing can reduce police and civilian violence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    13. Baraldi, Anna Laura & Papagni, Erasmo & Stimolo, Marco, 2022. "Neutralizing the Tentacles of Organized Crime. Assessment of an Anti-Crime Measure in Fighting Mafia Violence," FEEM Working Papers 322775, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:114:y:2020:i:3:p:874-887_17. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/psr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.