4. The geography of drug markets and hotspots of violence

This presentation will examine the broader geography of drug markets and flows, how they set their paths across the globe from source countries to destination markets, and in particular how illicit drugs markets often end up being centered around hubs of insecurity and conflict. The presentation will draw on the GI-TOCs recent paper showing the intersections between insecurity and illicit economies in West Africa, and key findings of our observatories in the Balkans and for the Ukraine in highlighting how drug markets interact with other illicit markets, profiting from and creating reservoirs of violence, and how criminal networks cooperate and shift territories in order to ensure continued suppy. It will also strongly highlight the role of corruption in enabling and protecting drug markets. 

The research draws from the GI-TOC’s qualitative and quantitative research into drug markets.

Instabilty and state fragility more broadly is an important enabler of illicit economies, with criminal actors exploiting weak rule of law. The economic damage inflicted on communities by conflict can in many cases leave populations dependent on informal, and in some cases illicit, livelihoods. But the relationship between illicit trade and instability is not straightforward. In some circumstances, informal and illicit economies can sustain a degree of stability by providing communities with a livelihood. As the security situation deteriorates, and the geographies of conflict and illicit economies increasingly overlap, it is crucial to understand how these two dynamics interact.