Transnational Drug Trafficking in Global Context: Common Challenges, Comparative Insights and Lessons Learned

Dealing with NSAAs is complicated and complex shifting between repression and dialogue. NSAAs are highly flexibkle and able to adapt to changing local and global contexts. Policies must be comprehensive and include local communities as well as structural drivers of violence.

In Latin America, most violence is considered “criminal.” But a clear-cut distinction between political and criminal violence does not exist. Policies to reduce violence meander between repression and dialogue but lack comprehensiveness, and a focus on prevention, the rule of law, and human rights.

Second Workshop

Never before has so much cocaine been in circulation worldwide, while other drugs like fentanyl, methamphetamine, and Captagon are similarly prevalent in different parts of the globe, and European ports like Hamburg have become key hubs for drug trafficking. What can be done? GIGA researchers share insights into current findings and policy approaches. 

Transfer for Transformation (T4T) is an application lab. T4T will innovate in the practice of knowledge transfer through consequent target-group-integration and novel access strategies. It will also advance the scholarship on the subject by analysing the effectiveness and impact of different types of knowledge transfer.
Leibniz Association, 2022-2026

This visual exploration examines four aspects of the cocaine trade using seizure and cultivation data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The first focuses on maritime trafficking, analyzing sea-related seizures in ports, harbors, rivers, and aboard vessels. The second explores cocaine paste (pasta básica), visualizing the scale and distribution of large interdictions. The third examines cocaine powder seizures, highlighting trafficking patterns and concentrations across regions. The final section shifts to the source, tracking coca cultivation trends in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. Through interactive visualizations, this exploration provides insights into where and how major drug seizures take place, offering a data-driven perspective on interdiction patterns.

The “War on Drugs” has been declared a failure. In the face of “harm reduction,” drug use is today treated more as an issue of public health than one of criminal policy. At this GIGA Forum, our experts discuss the changing discourses and policy stances towards illegal drugs in Europe, Latin America, as well as globally. Video now online.

This visual exploration examines sea-related drug seizures recorded by the UNODC, focusing on seizures in ports, harbors, territorial waters, and vessels. It highlights trafficking patterns, enforcement efforts, and geographic distribution of maritime drug flows.

Focusing on cocaine paste (pasta básica) seizures, this visualization examines the scale, distribution, and concentration of large interdictions. By analyzing seizure sizes and geographic hotspots, it highlights key trafficking routes and the role of enforcement in disrupting supply flows.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Brazilian urban peripheries, this article proposes a theoretical reflection on normative multiplicities and their relations to the dynamics of violence in contexts of sharp conflict.

This chapter considers the Dismantling Law through the journey of the Ford Ka stolen from Uber driver Diego in the East Zone. Prior to the Law, the dismantling market was highly susceptible to illegality, as might be expected from a market in stolen car parts. This has led to a conflict between actors competing for economic and political gains from illegal money.

En Brasil, cerca de 500 mil vehículos son robados todos los años, siendo un 45% en São Paulo. En el caso de los autos, los destinos son conocidos – deshuesaderos, negocios de autopartes, fronteras, subastas, reventa, usos en otras acciones delictivas. Este artículo traza la trayectoria de un Ford Ka 2018 robado y desarmado en São Paulo y debate la regulación de las economías ilegales.

The interview begins by tracing the trajectory of this experienced researcher through his theoretical, thematic and empirical choices. Next, we explore some issues raised in the thematic dossier “States of circulation: The co-production of logistical and political orders”

Do war economies thwart postwar transformations and peacebuilding? This paper reveals a complex relationship shaped by political regimes and state capacities. It suggests that postwar countries can strengthen democratic institutions and state presence, rather than being inherently doomed by their war economies.

Non-state armed actors come in a variety of shapes including warlord-led groups. In war or lower-level armed conflict, and violence-prone contexts, these groups pose severe problems to peacebuilding, democratic governance, and sustainable development. This trend analysis maps cross-regional developments.

Dealing with NSAAs is complicated and complex shifting between repression and dialogue. NSAAs are highly flexibkle and able to adapt to changing local and global contexts. Policies must be comprehensive and include local communities as well as structural drivers of violence.

In Latin America, most violence is considered “criminal.” But a clear-cut distinction between political and criminal violence does not exist. Policies to reduce violence meander between repression and dialogue but lack comprehensiveness, and a focus on prevention, the rule of law, and human rights.

Second Workshop