On the blog Progress in Political Economy, Alke Jenss gives an overview of the research results of her book "Selective Security in the War on Drugs. The Coloniality of State Power in Colombia and Mexico". It analyzes authoritarian neoliberalism in the war on drugs in Colombia and Mexico. She interprets the “security projects” of the 2000s—when the security provided by the state became ever more selective—as embedded in processes of land appropriation, transformed property relations, and global capital accumulation. By zooming in on security practices in Colombia and Mexico in that decade and juxtaposing the two contexts, this book offers a detailed analysis of the role of the state in violence. To what extent and for whom do states produce order and disorder? Which social forces support and drive such state practices?
Find the blog post here.