Professor Gernot Klantschnig
BA (SOAS), MSc (LSE), DPhil (Oxford)
Expertise
Gernot Klantschnig works on drugs, crime, harm, policing and related policy in West Africa and globally.
Current positions
Professor
School for Policy Studies
Contact
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Biography
I joined the School of Policy Studies in September 2019 after spending 5 years at the University of York (Social Policy and Crime) and 6 years at the University of Nottingham’s China campus (International Studies). Prior to that I completed my doctorate in Politics at Oxford with a thesis on Nigeria’s role in the international trade and control of illegal drugs. My doctoral and postdoctoral research has been the basis for three books and several articles on the politics and history of drugs and crime, policing and healthcare in Africa. This research has also been supported by funding bodies, such as the ESRC, British Academy, Chinese government and the World University Network. My current research and publications continue to focus on drugs and crime and their role in broader debates about trade, security, the state and health in West Africa, China and globally.
Research interests
My current research and publications focus on drugs and crime and their role in broader debates about trade, security, the state and health in Africa, China and globally. At the moment, I work on three related research areas all of which are theoretically linked by an interest in the role of ideas and policy transfer, ‘organised crime’, as well as the state and the illicit in the global South.
(1) Pharmaceuticals and their Regulation in the Global South. I have recently completed a British Academy-funded project on the politics of ‘fake prescription drugs’ in Nigeria and a Chinese government-funded project on China’s growing economic and political engagement with Africa in the pharmaceutical sector. I continue working and publishing in this area.
(2) Cannabis Africana. With colleagues in Bristol and Cape Town, I am working towards a history of cannabis use, trade and policy in Africa, which will culminate in a book monograph. As part of this work, I was based at the University of Cape Town in 2016 to conduct research on cannabis and crime in South Africa. In spring 2020 we are starting a new ESRC project on Cannabis and Development in Africa to further develop this research in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.
(3) Politics of Organised Crime and Drugs in West Africa. I continue researching and publishing on the politics of illegal drugs, crime and policing in Africa. With colleagues in Ottawa and Ibadan, I am currently working on an ESRC project on Hidden Narratives on Organised Crime in West Africa, exploring the criminalisation of the trade in drugs and migration in Nigeria and Niger: https://tnocwestafrica.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Cannabis Africana: Drugs and Development in Africa
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
01/10/2020 to 30/09/2024
Hidden Narratives of Transnational Organised Crime in West Africa
Principal Investigator
Description
A collaborative research project between the Universities of Bristol and Ottawa and the French Institute for Research in Africa. It is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council…Managing organisational unit
School for Policy StudiesDates
30/09/2019 to 31/12/2022
Publications
Selected publications
07/07/2021Opioid of the people
Politique Africaine
Exploring hidden narratives in the West African Tramadol trade and transport of migrants
Exploring hidden narratives in the West African Tramadol trade and transport of migrants
Quasilegality: Khat, Cannabis and Africa’s Drug Laws
Third World Quarterly
Fake Drugs: Health, Wealth and Regulation in Nigeria
Review of African Political Economy
The politics of drug control in Nigeria :
International Journal of Drug Policy
Recent publications
14/02/2024Beyond Africa and the War on Drugs
Journal of Illicit Economies and Development
Business as usual? Cannabis legalisation and agrarian change in Zimbabwe
Journal of Peasant Studies
Nigerian Drug Markets
Reforming Drug Policy in Nigeria: Research and Practice Perspectives
Cannabis is illegal in Nigeria but provides a living for families - study calls for rethink of drug laws
Resolving friction in the tramadol economy in Nigeria
Drugs, Habits and Social Policy