@conference {348796,
	title = {Counternarcotics to Counterinsurgency: Assessing the Transformation of US Economic Assistance to Colombia, 1998{\textendash}2002},
	booktitle = {WCFIA Undergraduate Thesis Conference},
	year = {2015},
	month = {February 6},
	publisher = {Weatherhead Center for International Affairs},
	organization = {Weatherhead Center for International Affairs},
	address = {Cambridge, MA},
	abstract = {The aim of this thesis is to explain the evolution of US economic aid to Colombia between 1998 and 2002. At the outset of the economic assistance program, entitled Plan Colombia, aid was to be used exclusively by the Colombian government towards the amelioration of the narcotics trafficking problem; however, by 2002, the United States Congress approved the use of funds towards both counternarcotics and counterterrorism campaigns. I hypothesize that the securitization of narcotics in Congress impeded the Congressional acceptance of US involvement in a Colombian insurgency campaign because it focused US attention on decreasing the production and trafficking of narcotics. Moreover, this securitization led to the portrayal of the insurgents as narcotraffickers, which allowed for greater concerns over ensuring that the Colombian armed forces did not engage in human rights violations. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, resulted in a re-orientation of US foreign policy, whereby terrorism became the primary issue of concern. The increased Congressional desire to support counterterrorism operations worldwide and the new portrayal of the insurgents as terrorists decreased the saliency of human rights concerns and paved the way for the 2002 passage of the joint campaign law. The broader goal of this thesis is to advance the study of US-Latin America economic assistance programs, the use of social construction and framing by political agents to achieve aims, and the impact of domestic politics on foreign policy. I am still working on situating my hypothesis in a theoretical framework of constructivism and securitization, and would appreciate feedback on how to do this and also how to structure my thesis to make space for the negation of counterarguments.},
	author = {Higgins, Hilary}
}
