The Rise and Fall of Narcopopulism: Drugs, Politics, and Society in Sinaloa, 1930-1980

Examines how the shifting structure of the drug trade and the changing roles of federal and state authorities explain the rise in violence in Sinaloa between the 1940s and 1980s. Traces the concept of “narcopopulism,” where drug traffickers cultivated popular legitimacy through local patronage, and how that arrangement eventually collapsed under federal enforcement pressure.