Dr Allan Gillies
- Lecturer (Political & International Studies)
telephone:
0141 330 3990
email:
Allan.Gillies@glasgow.ac.uk
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957Biography
My research examines the political economies of transnational illicit commodities in Latin America. My work intervenes in debates around the causes of drug violence in Latin America, the development of the state in post-colonial contexts, political transition and the dynamics of socio-environmental conflict. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in Bolivia and Colombia, using oral history interviews, archival sources and participatory methods to map illicit economies and their effects.
My research engages with policy failures of the 'war on drugs' in Latin America and the search for more humane and effective alternatives. I have collaborated on knowledge exchange activities with Christian Aid and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) on pathways to integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into policy responses.
Research interests
- The political economy of illicit commodities
- State development and political transition
- Socio-environmental conflict
- US-Latin American relations
- International development
Research groups
Publications
2025
Gillies, Allan 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2025)
Ruiz‐Serna, D.(2023) When Forests Run Amok: War and Its Afterlives in Indigenous and Afro‐Colombian Territories, Duke University Press (Durham, NC), xi+ 262 pp. $26.95.
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 44(1),
pp. 53-54.
(doi: 10.1111/blar.13611)[Book Review]
2024
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2024)
Shesko, Elizabeth (2020) Conscript Nation: Coercion and Citizenship in the Bolivian Barracks, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), vii + 252 pp. $45 hbk.
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 43(5),
pp. 417-418.
(doi: 10.1111/blar.13601)[Book Review]
2021
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957, Hume, Mo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5716-6672, Camburn, Mark, Giraldo López, Jorge Andres, del Carmen Palacios Palacios, Yesenia, Teeuw, Richard and Argyriou, Nasos
(2021)
COVID-19 in Chocó, Colombia: Learning from Grassroot Responses to the Pandemic.
Project Report.
Low and Middle Income Countries Research Network (LMIC).
(doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.260010).
2020
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2020)
Contesting the ‘war on drugs’ in the Andes: US-Bolivian relations of power and control (1989-1993).
Journal of Latin American Studies, 52(1),
pp. 77-106.
(doi: 10.1017/S0022216X19000324)
2019
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957, Collins, John and Soderholm, Alexander
(2019)
Addressing the development implications of illicit economies: the rise of a policy and research agenda.
Journal of Illicit Economies and Development, 1(1),
pp. 1-8.
(doi: 10.31389/jied.17)
2018
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2018)
Theorising state-narco relations in Bolivia's nascent democracy (1982-1993): governance order and political transition.
Third World Quarterly, 39(4),
pp. 727-746.
(doi: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1374839)
2017
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2017)
The Coca-Cocaine Economy, the US ‘War on Drugs’ and Bolivia’s Democratic Transition (1982-1993).
[Website]
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2017)
La economía coca-cocaína, la guerra contra las drogas de los
Estados Unidos y la transición democrática de Bolivia (1982-1993).
[Website]
2015
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2015)
Closing Evidence Gaps on the Prevalence and Harms of New Psychoactive Substances in Scotland.
Project Report.
Scottish Government.
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2015)
Mapping Current and Potential Sources of Routine Data
Capture on New Psychoactive Substances in Scotland.
Project Report.
Scottish Government.
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2015)
Contested ground: the Chapare and the “War on Drugs” in Bolivia.
Drouth, 53,
Articles
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2020)
Contesting the ‘war on drugs’ in the Andes: US-Bolivian relations of power and control (1989-1993).
Journal of Latin American Studies, 52(1),
pp. 77-106.
(doi: 10.1017/S0022216X19000324)
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957, Collins, John and Soderholm, Alexander
(2019)
Addressing the development implications of illicit economies: the rise of a policy and research agenda.
Journal of Illicit Economies and Development, 1(1),
pp. 1-8.
(doi: 10.31389/jied.17)
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2018)
Theorising state-narco relations in Bolivia's nascent democracy (1982-1993): governance order and political transition.
Third World Quarterly, 39(4),
pp. 727-746.
(doi: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1374839)
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2015)
Contested ground: the Chapare and the “War on Drugs” in Bolivia.
Drouth, 53,
Book Reviews
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2025)
Ruiz‐Serna, D.(2023) When Forests Run Amok: War and Its Afterlives in Indigenous and Afro‐Colombian Territories, Duke University Press (Durham, NC), xi+ 262 pp. $26.95.
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 44(1),
pp. 53-54.
(doi: 10.1111/blar.13611)[Book Review]
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2024)
Shesko, Elizabeth (2020) Conscript Nation: Coercion and Citizenship in the Bolivian Barracks, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), vii + 252 pp. $45 hbk.
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 43(5),
pp. 417-418.
(doi: 10.1111/blar.13601)[Book Review]
Research Reports or Papers
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957, Hume, Mo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5716-6672, Camburn, Mark, Giraldo López, Jorge Andres, del Carmen Palacios Palacios, Yesenia, Teeuw, Richard and Argyriou, Nasos
(2021)
COVID-19 in Chocó, Colombia: Learning from Grassroot Responses to the Pandemic.
Project Report.
Low and Middle Income Countries Research Network (LMIC).
(doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.260010).
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2015)
Closing Evidence Gaps on the Prevalence and Harms of New Psychoactive Substances in Scotland.
Project Report.
Scottish Government.
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2015)
Mapping Current and Potential Sources of Routine Data
Capture on New Psychoactive Substances in Scotland.
Project Report.
Scottish Government.
Website
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2017)
The Coca-Cocaine Economy, the US ‘War on Drugs’ and Bolivia’s Democratic Transition (1982-1993).
[Website]
Gillies, Allan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4578-7957
(2017)
La economía coca-cocaína, la guerra contra las drogas de los
Estados Unidos y la transición democrática de Bolivia (1982-1993).
[Website]
Grants
- Principal investigator – Democratising Data: Community-led Socio-Environmental Monitoring in Chocó, Colombia, ESRC Impact Accelaration Account Fund (September 2024).
- Co-applicant – Responding to COVID-19 in Chocó, Colombia, Scottish Funding Council – Global Challenges Research Fund, COVID-19 Rapid Response (April 2020).
- Co-applicant – Developing Community Arts-Based Methods for Socio-Environmental Advocacy in Chocó, Colombia, ESRC Impact Acceleration Award (November 2019).
- Co-applicant – Water Stories: indirect impacts of socio-environmental conflict on community health in Chocó, Colombia, Scottish Funding Council – Global Challenges Research Fund (April 2019).
- Co-applicant – Colombia River Stories: supporting socio-environmental advocacy, Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund (January 2019).
- Principal investigator – Addressing the Development Implications of Illicit Economies in the Global South, grant agreement with the Global Partnership on Drug Policy and Development (GPDPD) at GIZ (December 2017).
- Principal investigator – Illicit Drug Economies, Governance and the Security-Development Nexus in the Global South, ESRC Global Challenges Research Fund Fellowship (January 2017).
Supervision
Please get in touch if you are interested in doing a PhD that relates to my research interests.
- Karvinen, Susanna
Indigenous Resistance to Extractivism – the Intersections of Gender and Settler Colonialism - Moroch, Dylan
¡Hasta la victoria siempre!: The Guerrilla Culture and Military Exceptionalism of Socialist Cuba - Piedrahita Arcila, Irene
Beyond the use of violence
Teaching
Globalisation: Critical Perspectives from the Global South (MSc) - POLITIC5099
Latin American Politics (Hons) - POLITIC4031
Research datasets
Additional information
Research associate at the Global Drug Policy Observatory, the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, and the Andean Information Network.
