Drawing on his deep, unequalled understanding of the political economy of illicit drugs, Pierre Chouvy has produced an exemplary study of the complex forces driving illicit narcotics production in the Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent regions of Asia. Through careful analysis of the historical, economic, and ecological forces behind the rapid growth of illicit drug production in Central and Southeast Asia, Chouvy shows how and why the coercive crop eradication schemes favored by the United States and United Nations have failed in the past and will fail again in the future. His evidence is unassailable and his argument is compelling. The social costs of forty years of failed "drug wars" have been high and the gains precious few. After a full century of failed drug prohibition, 1909 to 2009, Chouvy makes a persuasive case for an alternative approach. -- Alfred W. McCoy, author of The Politics of Heroin This book establishes Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy as the successor to Alfred McCoy: he not only deciphers the long history of the opium poppy and the complex geopolitics of illicit drugs in Asia but also explains how and why decades of a costly 'war on drugs' have failed. -- Alain Labrousse, former Director of Geopolitical Drug Watch (Observatoire geopolitique des drogues) The illicit trade in opiates is one of the great paradoxes of the modern age. How is it that after nearly a century of concerted international efforts by most of the major global powers, the illicit trade in heroin and opium has continued to grow? Chouvy's fascinating and well-documented study of the politics of the poppy in Asia exposes the many dimensions of this issue. Briefly tracing the history of the opium trade, Chouvy draws on his extensive knowledge of the current situation to focus on the rise and fall of the 'Golden Triangle' and the 'migration' of its epicentre from Southeast Asia to the 'Golden Crescent' of Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan. He follows the shifting tides of global politics, the Cold War and the twisted politics of failed states to show the manner in which agents of the US government and other states play against one another to seek 'higher goals' while paving the way for shadowy drug lords, corrupt politicians and generals to expand their profits. At the same time, at home, the governments of the US, the European states and others pursue draconian policies in their wars on drugs. Chouvy's engaging prose and clear focus make it an accessible and interesting read. This book is an excellent companion reader for university courses on imperialism and globalization. -- Carl A. Trocki, Professor of Asian Studies, Queensland University of Technology
Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy is a Research Fellow at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris. He presented the opening speech at the G8 special meeting in Paris on drug routes in Central Asia. He is also the creator of the website www.geopium.org.
In laying out the economics and politics that tend to accompany
opium farming, Chouvy encourages us to reevaluate our drug policy
to focus less on the trade itself and more on its root causes,
arguing that not until Afghanistan enjoys economic growth and a
stable government will it be possible to curtail the drug
trade.
*Washington Post*
This book traces the use of opium back to prehistoric times and
sketches its complex and interesting history in Europe and
especially in Asia, from ancient China and ancient Persia to modern
times. It contends that opium production is intimately related to
poverty and food insecurity, that eradication programs have
inevitably failed to suppress opium production, and that the only
way to reduce opium production is to address its economic and
social sources by providing livelihoods superior to poppy
production. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the labor-intensive
production of opium is not highly lucrative to the poppy farmers;
it does, however, compare favorably to alternative crops in the
states where it is produced.
*Foreign Affairs*
As a site of both the war on terror and the war on drugs,
Afghanistan serves Chouvy as a test case for investigating the
chicken-or-egg questions that riddle anti-drug policy. What comes
first, poverty or poppy growth? Do local warlords spur opium
production, or do the conditions that first allowed warlords to
take power also give way to a drug trade? Is narcoterrorism—the
notion that terrorists use drugs to fund insurgencies—actually
behind violence in Afghanistan? …Opium’s insight lies in its
reframing of such questions: despite what some politicians would
like you to believe, Chouvy argues, these phenomena—violence,
poverty, and drugs—can never be understood independently of each
other.
*New Republic online*
Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy…is an expert on the politics of illicit drugs
in Asia. This detailed, well-researched…account is uncompromising
in its conclusions: the American war on drugs has been an expensive
failure; and crop eradication hasn’t worked. Opium growing is a
concomitant of weak or non-existent government, combined with civil
war, poverty and food insecurity.
*The Tablet*
Timely and provocative… Chouvy meticulously recounts the poppy’s
very political history, concluding that while illicit production
tends to flourish in areas where violence restricts state control,
most ‘Asian opium farmers grow poppies in order to combat poverty.’
…Exhaustively researched and cogently argued, Chouvy’s analysis of
the geopolitics of narcotics should be required reading for
policymakers, stakeholders, and concerned citizens.
*Publishers Weekly*
This book establishes Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy as the successor to
Alfred McCoy: he not only deciphers the long history of the opium
poppy and the complex geopolitics of illicit drugs in Asia but also
explains how and why decades of a costly ‘war on drugs’ have
failed.
*Alain Labrousse, former Director of Geopolitical Drug Watch
(Observatoire géopolitique des drogues)*
Drawing on his deep, unequaled understanding of the political
economy of illicit drugs, Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy has produced an
exemplary study of the complex forces driving illicit narcotics
production in the Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent regions of
Asia. Through careful analysis of the historical, economic, and
ecological forces behind the rapid growth of illicit drug
production in Central and Southeast Asia, Chouvy shows how and why
the coercive crop eradication schemes favored by the United States
and United Nations have failed in the past and will fail again in
the future. His evidence is unassailable and his argument is
compelling. The social costs of forty years of failed ‘drug wars’
have been high and the gains precious few. After a full century of
failed drug prohibition, 1909 to 2009, Chouvy makes a persuasive
case for an alternative approach.
*Alfred W. McCoy, author of The Politics of Heroin*
The illicit trade in opiates is one of the great paradoxes of the
modern age. How is it that after nearly a century of concerted
international efforts by most of the major global powers, the
illicit trade in heroin and opium has continued to grow? Chouvy’s
fascinating and well-documented study of the politics of the poppy
in Asia exposes the many dimensions of this issue. Briefly tracing
the history of the opium trade, Chouvy draws on his extensive
knowledge of the current situation to focus on the rise and fall of
the ‘Golden Triangle’ and the ‘migration’ of its epicenter from
Southeast Asia to the ‘Golden Crescent’ of
Iran–Afghanistan–Pakistan. He follows the shifting tides of global
politics, the Cold War and the twisted politics of failed states to
show the manner in which agents of the US government and other
states play against one another to seek ‘higher goals’ while paving
the way for shadowy drug lords, corrupt politicians and generals to
expand their profits. At the same time, at home, the governments of
the U.S., the European states and others pursue draconian policies
in their wars on drugs. Chouvy’s engaging prose and clear focus
make it an accessible and interesting read. This book is an
excellent companion reader for university courses on imperialism
and globalization.
*Carl A. Trocki, Professor of Asian Studies, Queensland University
of Technology*
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