Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book develops a historically grounded narrative aimed at examining the main international and domestic forces that explain Argentina's decision to defect from the modal pattern to combat drug trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses on different historical aspects of Argentina's drug policy-making vis-a-vis the US role in the region, relevant literature reviews are opportunely included throughout the corpus of this research. The book explores the origins of the Standard Security Model (SSM) from an historical perspective. It explores the cases that have resisted US pressure to adopt the SSM to fight against drug trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Since more can be learned by examining phenomenon that deviate from the modal pattern, the book specifically focuses on the Argentine case.