Threats and Perceptions: the Coca-Cocaine Complex and its \ud Securitization in Post-Crisis Argentina (2001-2010)

Within the field of studies on drugs and security, the present dissertation is aimed at making, at least, three original contributions. First, from the traditional\ud classification of illegal drugs –those derived from the coca leaf, those derived from the poppies, those derived from cannabis and the synthetic drugs– this study focuses on the coca-cocaine complex (CCC), i.e., the actors involved as well as the dimensions of production, manufacture, traffic and consumption of coca paste, cocaine base paste, cocaine hydrochloride, and its raw material, the coca leaf. The analysis was aimed at elucidating the way in which this complex has affected South America since the 1980s, and Argentina in the post-2001 crisis. Secondly, from a theoretical framework that combines an objectivist perspective of security with the constructivist Theory of\ud Securitization, this dissertation not only deals with the material threats posed by the CCC, but also analyses the perceptions that South American and Argentinian political \ud elites have developed and turned into security priority issues regarding the CCC.\ud Finally, this thesis seeks to overcome the prevalent and traditional formulations on drugs and security studies, which have focused their analysis on the effects of drug\ud trafficking on national security –the state-centered approach–. Instead, this dissertation widens the scope in order to integrate Argentina into South America as a\ud Regional Security Complex (RSC) and as the geopolitical basis of the CCC. This, I consider, is the strongest contribution of this research work to the field, given the fact that, while there is an extensive bibliography on the CCC in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia, there has been little research yielding information about the CCC in Argentina\ud –arguably for its recent change of profile in the universe of drug trafficking