Drugs, war and peacebuilding
The complex connections and continuities between war and peace are mirrored in equally complex connections between both these states, and drugs. Much writing about the connection between drugs and conflict …
Course: Drugs, Peace, and Development: Rethinking Policy
Drugs and peace processes: difficult compromises
Few peace agreements have dealt directly with the role of illicit economies. The Colombian peace agreement is the exception, with its strong focus on tackling the drug economy. Peace agreements …
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and drug policy
Drugs have often been treated as a ‘taboo’ subject. This has created a significant blind spot for those working to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal mission of addressing the …
Development and drug-affected borderlands
The relationship between illicit drug cultivation and development is complex and sometimes contradictory. Development does not always lead to progressive change. Development processes can sometimes have long-lasting detrimental consequences, generating …
How policy makers and practitioners navigate trilemma trade-offs
Watch the video of policy makers and practitioners reflecting on their work in drug- and conflict-affected environments. Consider the following questions: What are the challenges and trade-offs surrounding drugs, development …
Problems with alternative development approaches
Alternative development (AD) approaches aim to reduce and eliminate illicit drug cultivation by reducing the livelihood vulnerabilities that cause farmers to become involved in illegal economies, usually by supporting them …
Understanding drugs
Not all harmful substances are classified as illegal. And arguably some illegal substances are less harmful than common legal ones. Alcohol and tobacco cause significant harm but are not criminalised. …
Risk environments
Much drug harm is caused not by any inherent properties of the drugs themselves, but by the contexts in which they are used, and responses to them. Understandings of drug …
What are drugs?
Drugs are substances that alter the ways our bodies or minds work. They can be natural or synthetic, legal or illegal, more or less risky, and with greater and less …
Drugs, conflict and development
Drugs, conflict and development are closely related in ways that can sometimes be surprising. The borderland regions of Colombia, Myanmar and Afghanistan are major producers of illicit drugs. These regions …
Insights for policy making
Research in the borderlands of Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar provides six key insights for policy makers to devise more humane and contextualised ways to tackle drugs, development and peacebuilding challenges. …
A smuggler’s life in the Afghan-Iranian borderlands
The animation above is an account of the life and livelihood of a trader, living and working near the border of southwestern Afghanistan. The individual at the centre of the …
What is a policy trilemma?
The contradiction between the policy goals of a drug-free world, the promotion of peace and sustainable development has become more salient due to important shifts in international policies on both …
These articles are from the online course:
Drugs, Peace, and Development: Rethinking Policy