Does US foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests?

Since the Reagan administration, the US has defined drugs primarily as a threat to its national security interest. It has, therefore, used its global influence to implement methods of narcotics control in foreign states in which drug production and trafficking are prevalent. This conforms to the rea...

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Main Author: Dobson, Jeremy
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50865/
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author Dobson, Jeremy
author_facet Dobson, Jeremy
author_sort Dobson, Jeremy
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Since the Reagan administration, the US has defined drugs primarily as a threat to its national security interest. It has, therefore, used its global influence to implement methods of narcotics control in foreign states in which drug production and trafficking are prevalent. This conforms to the realist perspective in international relations which considers states to be motivated by their interests. This dissertation will use a single case study of US foreign policy towards Colombia, from 1981 to 2017, to explore whether US foreign policy, informed by its interest to curb drug trafficking, is counterproductive to meeting other key objectives. It argues that the US drug control efforts have continually created unintended consequences which undermine several other core US interests: specifically, national security in relation to counterinsurgency, economic interests concerning natural resources and its ability to maintain credibility in respect of human rights.
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format Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
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spelling nottingham-508652025-02-28T14:03:48Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50865/ Does US foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests? Dobson, Jeremy Since the Reagan administration, the US has defined drugs primarily as a threat to its national security interest. It has, therefore, used its global influence to implement methods of narcotics control in foreign states in which drug production and trafficking are prevalent. This conforms to the realist perspective in international relations which considers states to be motivated by their interests. This dissertation will use a single case study of US foreign policy towards Colombia, from 1981 to 2017, to explore whether US foreign policy, informed by its interest to curb drug trafficking, is counterproductive to meeting other key objectives. It argues that the US drug control efforts have continually created unintended consequences which undermine several other core US interests: specifically, national security in relation to counterinsurgency, economic interests concerning natural resources and its ability to maintain credibility in respect of human rights. 2018-07-17 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50865/3/eThesis%2520upload.pdf Dobson, Jeremy (2018) Does US foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests? MRes thesis, University of Nottingham. US Foreign policy the war on drugs Colombia interests realism case study analysis
spellingShingle US Foreign policy
the war on drugs
Colombia
interests
realism
case study analysis
Dobson, Jeremy
Does US foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests?
title Does US foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests?
title_full Does US foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests?
title_fullStr Does US foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests?
title_full_unstemmed Does US foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests?
title_short Does US foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests?
title_sort does us foreign policy towards drug-producing states undermine its other foreign policy objectives and interests?
topic US Foreign policy
the war on drugs
Colombia
interests
realism
case study analysis
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/50865/