A look at why counterinsurgency and counternarcotics are so intertwined and how policymakers are going about erradicating both insurgency and narcotics the wrong way.

Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Illicit economies and belligerents -- 2. The political capital model of illicit economies -- 3. Peru: the coca path -- 4. Colombia : the narco wars -- 5. Afghanistan : swimming in a sea of poppies -- 6. Conclusions and policy implications -- Appendix A: Involvement of belligerent groups with illicit drugs -- Appendix B: Methodology of the study -- Appendix C: Case selection