This thesis studies the mediation of discourse around the coca leaf in Bolivia. In the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the coca leaf became classified as a narcotic drug. Indigenous...Show moreThis thesis studies the mediation of discourse around the coca leaf in Bolivia. In the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the coca leaf became classified as a narcotic drug. Indigenous groups in Bolivia ascribe great value to the coca leaf and call it a cultural practice. Thus, a political and cultural dichotomy exists with regard to the signification of the coca leaf. While the academic record has confirmed the existence of different types of discourse, it remains unclear how those have been constructed. Through carrying out a Foucauldian discourse analysis, and with Foucault’s ‘regime of truth’ in mind, this thesis deconstructs the discourse around the coca leaf. It concludes that the prohibitionist discourse is based on racial premises and the metaphor that perceives drugs as a diabolical force. Secondly, the discourses articulated by the MAS-government is based on a cultural argument, on indigenous knowledge and decolonisation.Show less
Bolivia vigorously opposes the conflation of coca and cocaine in international drug prohibition and has innovated its domestic coca policies while pursuing an international campaign to change the...Show moreBolivia vigorously opposes the conflation of coca and cocaine in international drug prohibition and has innovated its domestic coca policies while pursuing an international campaign to change the coca leaf’s legal status. However, it has also taken very seriously certain commitments of the global drug prohibition regime, such as combating illegal drug trafficking and coca-paste interdiction. Bolivian policies under Evo Morales and the MAS both resist and comply to international drug prohibition. This thesis is interested in exploring the developments leading up to this change in Bolivian policy and subsequent actions undertaken domestically and in the international arena. My principal academic interest is to bring clarity to Bolivian coca policy innovations, domestic and international, in relation to the drug prohibition regime and the American drug war.Show less
