Alternative Title
针头造成的损害：中国政府对世界违禁市场的参与如何影响中国国安
Abstract
According to the literature, illicit global markets, and drugs specifically, have an inherently negative relationship with state security and sovereignty. However, in China, where there are incentives at both the central and provincial level for domestic companies to manufacture fentanyl and other new psychoactive substances (NPS), we do not have evidence that drug use or trafficking poses a particular threat to Chinese state security. The goal of this thesis is therefore to explore how Chinese state participation in illicit global markets affects Chinese domestic security. To explore this question, this thesis established three main responses to illicit global markets seen in the literature, which were then employed as causal mechanisms as part of my outcome-based process tracing methodology. The outcomes seen as most essential to my thesis are the fact that chemical manufacturers producing fentanyl are more likely to ship their products to customers overseas than to ones within China and the lack of fentanyl-related deaths and affronts to security on the Chinese mainland caused by drugs. This thesis found that both outcomes can be explained by China’s dual use of ‘cooption’ and ‘repression’ strategies. By incentivizing the manufacture of fentanyl abroad through VAT export rebates, while heavily suppressing the use of drugs on the Chinese mainland, China has created conditions where if companies are going to produce fentanyl, then they have little choice other than to ship their products abroad. Additionally, by incentivizing the manufacture of fentanyl and NPS, the Chinese government has created a ‘side-gig’ to support an industry with immense ties to national security and economic stability. Therefore, I assert that by coopting fentanyl internationally while repressing it domestically, China has pacified the relationship between drugs and the state.
Advisor
Krain, Matthew
Second Advisor
Wang, Rujie
Department
Chinese Studies; Political Science
Recommended Citation
Bodnar, Finley, "The Needle and the Damage Done: How Does Chinese Participation in Illicit Global Economies Affect Domestic Security?" (2025). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 11527.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/11527
Keywords
Illicit global markets, China, Fentanyl, New Psychoactive Substances (NPS)
Publication Date
2025
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2025 Finley Bodnar