DRUGS, BORDERS, AND STATE SOVEREIGNTY: A CASE STUDY OF EKATERINBURG

This thesis will examine the interdependent relationship of drugs, border security, and sovereignty following the 1991 collapse of communism in Russia and the 2001 US-led overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Regime changes, particularly in Russia, led to a sharp decline in state revenues and subsequent loss of capacity to adequately fund border control institutions. The decline of border control mechanisms resulted in porous borders and fewer barriers for narcotics traffickers. In turn, drug traffickers weakened border security institutions through the corruption and co-optation of border guards. The thesis will use a historical case study analysis of Ekaterinburg and draw on data from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, World Bank, and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The study will conclude with a discussion of the concept of the sovereignty, and how trans-border phenomena, such as the drug trade, pose a challenge for territorial-based definitions of sovereignty.