Frances Thomson
Biographic Data
| ID | 226371 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Frances Thomson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Frances |
| FAMILY NAME | Thomson |
| SIGNATURE | THOMSON F |
| AFFILIATIONS | SOAS University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7048-5160 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 6 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 95 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 6 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The political economy of illicit drug crops
This article and the forum it introduces examine illicit drug crop (IDC) economies from agrarian perspectives. Examining IDCs as a group implies analysing how prohibition distinguishes them from other (licit) crops. We identify seven mechanisms through which prohibition shapes the agrarian political economy of IDCs and explore how these mechanisms and their effects generate distinctive patterns of development and political action amongst 'illicit…
Escaping capitalist market imperatives
The illicit coca economy has become a bulwark for smallholder farming in Colombia. This article helps explain why. Analysis of the social relations surrounding coca production in one of the country's most important coca-producing municipalities shows that capitalist market imperatives are weak within this economy. Pressures to increase productivity are muted by fluid access to land, non-interest-bearing debts, and the lack of price competition be…
Everything peasants do is illegal’
For decades, Colombian governments have imposed a narrative linking illegal crops with statelessness and presenting ‘more state’ and specifically ‘more law enforcement’ as the solution to a swathe of problems in drug-producing regions. We draw on coca growers’ own accounts of law enforcement to critique this narrative. Their accounts – specifically from Putumayo in Colombia’s Amazonian frontier – refer to persecution for many of the things they d…
Land formalization – The new magic bullet in counternarcotics? A case study of coca cultivation and tenure (in)formality from Colombia
Both policymakers and scholars have suggested that informal land tenure contributes to the perpetuation of illicit drug crop cultivation and, conversely, that land formalization programs serve counternarcotics aims. This article examines some of the key causal mechanisms said to underlie the posited relationship between land tenure (in)formality and the cultivation of crops used for illicit drug production. Our analysis is grounded in the context…
Rebels-Turned-Narcos? The Farc-EP’s Political Involvement in Colombia’s Cocaine Economy
According to the ‘rebels-turned-narcos’ premise, increasing involvement in the illicit drug industry causes insurgent groups to lose sight of their political aims, as they shift their focus to profit-making. The (former) Colombian rebel group, the FARC-EP, became a paragon for this idea. Drawing on primary research, we argue that the FARC-EP’s involvement in the illicit drug economy was itself political. Their involvement included governance acti…
The Agrarian Question and Violence in Colombia
This article examines connections between Colombia's internal armed conflict and agrarian questions. It pays attention to the country's specific historical trajectory of agrarian change, the violent expression of social tensions that this elicited, and the particular ways in which these dynamics were influenced by a changing global context. This analysis of the intimate ties between violent conflict and agrarian questions in Colombia, both in ter…
The Agrarian Question and Violence in Colombia
This article examines connections between Colombia's internal armed conflict and agrarian questions. It pays attention to the country's specific historical trajectory of agrarian change, the violent expression of social tensions that this elicited, and the particular ways in which these dynamics were influenced by a changing global context. This analysis of the intimate ties between violent conflict and agrarian questions in Colombia, both in ter…
Rebels-Turned-Narcos? The Farc-EP’s Political Involvement in Colombia’s Cocaine Economy
According to the ‘rebels-turned-narcos’ premise, increasing involvement in the illicit drug industry causes insurgent groups to lose sight of their political aims, as they shift their focus to profit-making. The (former) Colombian rebel group, the FARC-EP, became a paragon for this idea. Drawing on primary research, we argue that the FARC-EP’s involvement in the illicit drug economy was itself political. Their involvement included governance acti…
Land formalization – The new magic bullet in counternarcotics? A case study of coca cultivation and tenure (in)formality from Colombia
Both policymakers and scholars have suggested that informal land tenure contributes to the perpetuation of illicit drug crop cultivation and, conversely, that land formalization programs serve counternarcotics aims. This article examines some of the key causal mechanisms said to underlie the posited relationship between land tenure (in)formality and the cultivation of crops used for illicit drug production. Our analysis is grounded in the context…
Escaping capitalist market imperatives
The illicit coca economy has become a bulwark for smallholder farming in Colombia. This article helps explain why. Analysis of the social relations surrounding coca production in one of the country's most important coca-producing municipalities shows that capitalist market imperatives are weak within this economy. Pressures to increase productivity are muted by fluid access to land, non-interest-bearing debts, and the lack of price competition be…
Everything peasants do is illegal’
For decades, Colombian governments have imposed a narrative linking illegal crops with statelessness and presenting ‘more state’ and specifically ‘more law enforcement’ as the solution to a swathe of problems in drug-producing regions. We draw on coca growers’ own accounts of law enforcement to critique this narrative. Their accounts – specifically from Putumayo in Colombia’s Amazonian frontier – refer to persecution for many of the things they d…
The political economy of illicit drug crops
This article and the forum it introduces examine illicit drug crop (IDC) economies from agrarian perspectives. Examining IDCs as a group implies analysing how prohibition distinguishes them from other (licit) crops. We identify seven mechanisms through which prohibition shapes the agrarian political economy of IDCs and explore how these mechanisms and their effects generate distinctive patterns of development and political action amongst 'illicit…
The Agrarian Question and Violence in Colombia
This article examines connections between Colombia's internal armed conflict and agrarian questions. It pays attention to the country's specific historical trajectory of agrarian change, the violent expression of social tensions that this elicited, and the particular ways in which these dynamics were influenced by a changing global context. This analysis of the intimate ties between violent conflict and agrarian questions in Colombia, both in ter…
Rebels-Turned-Narcos? The Farc-EP’s Political Involvement in Colombia’s Cocaine Economy
According to the ‘rebels-turned-narcos’ premise, increasing involvement in the illicit drug industry causes insurgent groups to lose sight of their political aims, as they shift their focus to profit-making. The (former) Colombian rebel group, the FARC-EP, became a paragon for this idea. Drawing on primary research, we argue that the FARC-EP’s involvement in the illicit drug economy was itself political. Their involvement included governance acti…
Land formalization – The new magic bullet in counternarcotics? A case study of coca cultivation and tenure (in)formality from Colombia
Both policymakers and scholars have suggested that informal land tenure contributes to the perpetuation of illicit drug crop cultivation and, conversely, that land formalization programs serve counternarcotics aims. This article examines some of the key causal mechanisms said to underlie the posited relationship between land tenure (in)formality and the cultivation of crops used for illicit drug production. Our analysis is grounded in the context…
Everything peasants do is illegal’
For decades, Colombian governments have imposed a narrative linking illegal crops with statelessness and presenting ‘more state’ and specifically ‘more law enforcement’ as the solution to a swathe of problems in drug-producing regions. We draw on coca growers’ own accounts of law enforcement to critique this narrative. Their accounts – specifically from Putumayo in Colombia’s Amazonian frontier – refer to persecution for many of the things they d…
The political economy of illicit drug crops
This article and the forum it introduces examine illicit drug crop (IDC) economies from agrarian perspectives. Examining IDCs as a group implies analysing how prohibition distinguishes them from other (licit) crops. We identify seven mechanisms through which prohibition shapes the agrarian political economy of IDCs and explore how these mechanisms and their effects generate distinctive patterns of development and political action amongst 'illicit…
Escaping capitalist market imperatives
The illicit coca economy has become a bulwark for smallholder farming in Colombia. This article helps explain why. Analysis of the social relations surrounding coca production in one of the country's most important coca-producing municipalities shows that capitalist market imperatives are weak within this economy. Pressures to increase productivity are muted by fluid access to land, non-interest-bearing debts, and the lack of price competition be…
Political science (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance (4 works) · Economics (4 works) · Coca (3 works) · Geography (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Law (3 works) · Politics (3 works) · Agriculture (2 works)