Synopses & Reviews
argues that corruption is not just a nuisance; it is a major source of geopolitical turmoil. Since the late 1990s, corruption has grown such that some governments now resemble criminal gangs, provoking extreme reactions ranging from revolution to militant puritanical religion. Through intensive firsthand reporting, Sarah Chayes explores the security implications of corruption throughout our world: Afghans returning to the Taliban, Egyptians overthrowing the Mubarak government--but also redesigning Al Qaeda--and Nigerians embracing both evangelical Christianity and Islamist terrorist groups like Boko Haram. The pattern, moreover, pervades history. Canonical political thinkers such as John Locke and Machiavelli, as well as the great medieval Islamic statesman Nizam al-Mulk, all named corruption as a threat to the realm. In a thrilling argument that connects the Protestant Reformation to the Arab Spring, Chayes asserts that we cannot afford not to attack corruption, for it is a cause, and not a result, of global instability.
Review
"This is an essential and very readable book about an explosive topic. In a stunning and compelling argument, Sarah Chayes transforms our understanding of the ugly reality behind sustained terrorism and other threats around the globe. She writes with an authenticity born of on-the-ground, in-the-markets and at-the-headquarters experiences that are unmatched by any other American." Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of Transparency International
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" is a revolutionary book. It upends our understanding of the sources of violent extremism on its head, arguing that the governments we have been relying on to fight terrorism are themselves one of its most potent and insidious sources. Sarah Chayes weaves together history, adventure, political analysis, personal experience, culture, and religion in a shimmering and compelling tapestry." Taylor Dibbert Huffington Post
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"Sarah Chayes provides a vivid, ground-level view on how pervasive corruption undermines U.S. foreign policy and breeds insurgency. provides critical lessons that all policymakers should heed." Anne-Marie Slaughter
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" is a compelling read. Drawing from detailed experience in Afghanistan as well as reporting from a number of today's other crisis spots, Sarah Chayes illustrates how corruption not only impacts ordinary people, but poses an acute threat to the stability and security of countries." Francis Fukuyama
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"Sarah Chayes brilliantly illuminates a topic no one wants talk about--but we must. Corruption is an insidious force that is causing some of the most dangerous challenges our world is facing. It has to be at the core of America's strategies, engagements and relationships for the twenty-first century." Francis Fukuyama
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"I can't imagine a more important book for our time. With a novelist's fine sense of drama, Chayes has written about one of the most crucial issues at hand: the startlingly obvious--and entirely overlooked--connection between deep corruption and civil violence. Not only is this book a pleasure to read, it has a brilliant and urgent message about our world." Taylor Dibbert Huffington Post
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"Illuminating...scholars and CNN junkies alike should be intrigued by the issues Chayes brings up and impressed with the solutions she suggests." Publishers Weekly
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"Chayes tells [a] fascinating story...[T]he central revelation in : at a certain point, systemic corruption became not just a lamentable by-product of the war but an accelerant of conflict...Chayes argues, convincingly, [that state-sanctioned larceny is] a threat not just to Afghanistan's national security but to that of the United States." New York Times Book Review
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"Makes a strong case that acute corruption causes not only social breakdown but also violent extremism...An important book that should be required reading for officials in foreign service, and for those working in commerce or the military. The story will interest the nonspecialist reader too." Giles Foden
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"[Chayes] tells the story of what happened in Afghanistan brilliantly, and compares her experience there with the current corruption in Egypt, Russia and the dismal rest...[a] page-turner." Patrick Radden Keefe New Yorker
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"Essential." Deirdre N. McCloskey Wall Street Journal
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"Informative, thought-provoking, very interesting and concisely written...Through personal experience and her own research, Chayes makes a simple yet profound argument." G. John Ikenberry Foreign Affairs
Synopsis
A former adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff explains how government's oldest problem is its greatest destabilizing force.
Synopsis
The world is blowing up. Every day a new blaze seems to ignite: the bloody implosion of Iraq and Syria; the East-West standoff in Ukraine; abducted schoolgirls in northern Nigeria. Is there some thread tying these frightening international security crises together? In a riveting account that weaves history with fast-moving reportage and insider accounts from the Afghanistan war, Sarah Chayes identifies the unexpected link: corruption.
Since the late 1990s, corruption has reached such an extent that some governments resemble glorified criminal gangs, bent solely on their own enrichment. These kleptocrats drive indignant populations to extremes ranging from revolution to militant puritanical religion. Chayes plunges readers into some of the most venal environments on earth and examines what emerges: Afghans returning to the Taliban, Egyptians overthrowing the Mubarak government (but also redesigning Al-Qaeda), and Nigerians embracing both radical evangelical Christianity and the Islamist terror group Boko Haram. In many such places, rigid moral codes are put forth as an antidote to the collapse of public integrity.
The pattern, moreover, pervades history. Through deep archival research, Chayes reveals that canonical political thinkers such as John Locke and Machiavelli, as well as the great medieval Islamic statesman Nizam al-Mulk, all named corruption as a threat to the realm. In a thrilling argument connecting the Protestant Reformation to the Arab Spring, Thieves of State presents a powerful new way to understand global extremism. And it makes a compelling case that we must confront corruption, for it is a cause not a result of global instability.
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About the Author
An award-winning former NPR correspondent, foreign policy expert, and entrepreneur with ten years' experience in Afghanistan, Sarah Chayes is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment and the author of The Punishment of Virtue. She lives in Washington, DC.