Bolivia’s Border System: Globalization of Illegal Markets

This volume demonstrates how Bolivia is part of a regional border system and intends to contribute to public policies, related to violence and distortions stemming from global illegal markets, specifically for vulnerable populations.

The book offers a multinational investigation on the changing and unknown image of the relationship systems that surround countries and, in particular, the structuring and functions of their borders. The chapters offer a reflection on how the lines of borders connect us to distant regions, which defines the real scope of the borders of globalization, while also impacting trade, labor flows, and organized crime. The book reveals how Bolivia has advanced from an image of borders, built through territorial disputes with neighbors, to today’s conception of them. In doing so, it argues that underlying tensions have developed between the local and the global, namely, Bolivia inserting itself into the global system of illegal markets, thereby generating critical scenarios for various social groups.

Bolivia’s Border System comprises the first research into Bolivia’s border subsystem and illegal markets. It will be a vital resource for researchers of Bolivia and Bolivian history, international relations, security studies, border studies, and contemporary Latin America.

José Blanes Jiménez is the founder and current research coordinator of Centro Boliviano de Estudios Multidisciplinarios (CEBEM), in La Paz, Bolivia. He holds an MSc in Sociology from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and has been a lecturer at several Latin American and Spanish universities. His research interests include population, development, border systems, and illegal markets.