ABSTRACT

What is the impact of smuggling on political ordering and stability in fragile states? We investigate how transnational drug smuggling networks affect protection and extraction dynamics, and drive divergent political stability trajectories in fragile countries that otherwise exhibit structural similiarities – i.e. Mali and Niger. Building on ethnographic evidence, we explore the hypothesis that distinctive peace- and state-building strategies result in different degrees of resilience vis-à-vis potentially destabilising factors. To explain variation in political stability we introduce the concept of ‘hybrid state-sponsored protection racket’, in which non-state armed actors are coopted in a protection assemblage under the tutelage of the state.

摘要

走私对脆弱国家的政治秩序和稳定有何影响？我们调查跨国毒品走私网络如何影响保护和提取动态，并推动在结构相似的脆弱国家（即马里和尼日尔）中出现不同的政治稳定轨迹。在民族志证据的基础上，我们探讨了这样一个假设，即独特的和平和国家建设战略会导致不同程度的复原力对抗潜在的不稳定因素。为了解释政治稳定性的变化，我们引入了“混合国家支持的保护球拍”的概念，其中非国家武装行为者在国家的指导下被吸收到保护组合中。