The complexities of coca: Peruvian cocaleros and the nature of American counter-narcotics

This thesis details the radical shifts in American counter-narcotics policies during the George H.W. Bush administration (1989-1993). This time period represents an 85% spending increase in counter-narcotics operations worldwide by the United States and this thesis argues that it corresponds to the potential decrease in funding to the military due to the fall of the Soviet Union. It focuses mainly on Peruvian coca farmers and their intersection with the Peruvian terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and how the militarization of the war on drugs enabled the American government to maintain Cold War budgets going onward.M.A.Includes bibliographical referencesby Christopher Daniel Hillye