1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910452760703321

Autore

Marten Kimberly Zisk <1963->

Titolo

Warlords : Strong-arm Brokers in Weak States / / Kimberly Marten

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cornell University Press

Ithaca : , 2012

ISBN

0-8014-5679-7

0-8014-6458-7

0-8014-6411-0

Descrizione fisica

xiii, 262 p

Collana

Cornell studies in security affairs

Disciplina

321.9

Soggetti

Warlordism and international relations

Warlordism - History - 21st century

Warlordism - History - 20th century

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Warlords : an introduction -- Warlords and universal sovereignty -- Ungoverned warlords : Pakistan's FATA in the twentieth century -- The Georgian experiment with warlords -- Chechnya : the sovereignty of Ramzan Kadyrov -- It takes three : Washington, Baghdad, and the Sons of Iraq -- Conclusion : lessons and hypotheses.

Sommario/riassunto

Warlords are individuals who control small territories within weak states, using a combination of force and patronage. In this book, Kimberly Marten shows why and how warlords undermine state sovereignty. Unlike the feudal lords of a previous era, warlords today are not state-builders. Instead they collude with cost-conscious, corrupt, or frightened state officials to flout and undermine state capacity. They thrive on illegality, relying on private militias for support, and often provoke violent resentment from those who are cut out of their networks. Some act as middlemen for competing states, helping to hollow out their own states from within. Countries ranging from the United States to Russia have repeatedly chosen to ally with warlords, but Marten argues that to do so is a dangerous proposition.Drawing on interviews, documents, local press reports, and in-depth



historical analysis, Marten examines warlordism in the Pakistani tribal areas during the twentieth century, in post-Soviet Georgia and the Russian republic of Chechnya, and among Sunni militias in the U.S.-supported Anbar Awakening and Sons of Iraq programs. In each case state leaders (some domestic and others foreign) created, tolerated, actively supported, undermined, or overthrew warlords and their militias. Marten draws lessons from these experiences to generate new arguments about the relationship between states, sovereignty, "local power brokers," and stability and security in the modern world.