Cops, Soldiers, and Diplomats: Explaining Agency Behavior in the War on Drugs - Tapa dura

Scholars tend to talk a great deal more about bureaucratic politics than they investigate the implications of this model for policy outcomes in particular policy areas. Tony Payan has done an excellent job of elaborating the model of bureaucratic politics and then applying it to the War on Drugs in the United States. The manuscript is thoroughly researched and is an important contribution to the literature on policy making and bureaucracy. I recommend it to every scholar, and every practitioner, concerned with how government actually functions. -- Guy Peters, University of Pittsburgh The administration of George Herbert Walker Bush appeared to address seriously the drug problem. To the contrary, Tony Payan's closely argued, insightful book demonstrates why drug policy has remained on the periphery of American politics, never reaching the level of vital importance. -- William O. Walker III, University of Toronto This is a well-researched book that helps us understand the bureaucratic incentives and organizational cultures that underly the legendary inter-agency clashes in U.S. drug interdiction efforts. The story that emerges is relevant to many programs that cobble together disparate organizations with varying missions and incentives, including not just the from the war on drugs but the Homeland Security Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the military occupation of Iraq. Anyone interested in understanding the politics of these complex inter-agency and inter-organizational efforts should read this book. -- Andrew Bennett, Georgetown University

Cops, Soldiers, and Diplomats is an exceptionally clear exposition of bureaucratic behavior amongst various agencies as each responded to the challenges of the War on Drugs. Payan exposes the bureaucratic imperatives of the numerous agencies waging the drug war, uncovering some of the fundamental structural reasons why this war could not succeed within the United States.