Webs of Corruption

Webs of Corruption is an innovative study demonstrating that terrorist and criminal activity intersect more narrowly than is widely believed. Mariya Y. Omelicheva and Lawrence P. Markowitz analyze the links between the drug trade and terror financing in Central Asia, finding that state security services shape the nexus of trafficking and terrorism.

Omelicheva Mariya :

Mariya Y. Omelicheva (PhD, Purdue University) is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, University of Kansas. She is the author of Counterterrorism Policies in Central Asia (Routledge, 2011) and Democracy in Central Asia: Competing Perspectives and Alternate Strategies (University Press of Kentucky, 2015), and editor of Nationalism and Identity in Central Asia: Dimensions, Dynamics, and Directions (Lexington Press, 2014).Markowitz Lawrence :

Lawrence P. Markowitz (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is Associate Professor of Political Science at Rowan University. He is author of State Erosion: Unlootable Resources and Unruly Elites in Central Asia (Cornell University Press, 2013), which received Honorable Mention for the 2014 Ed A Hewitt Book Award for the best book on the political economy of Eurasia published in the last two years. He has also published in journals such as Foreign Affairs, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Ethnic and Racial Studies.Mariya Y. Omelicheva is professor of political science at the University of Kansas. She is the author of Counterterrorism Policies in Central Asia (2011) and Democracy in Central Asia: Competing Perspectives and Alternate Strategies (2015).

Lawrence P. Markowitz is professor of political science at Rowan University. He is the author of State Erosion: Unlootable Resources and Unruly Elites in Central Asia (2013).

Alexander Cooley, Columbia University:
Scholars and policy makers have long speculated on the nexus between drug trafficking and terrorism. In this ambitious and expertly conceptualized study, Omelicheva and Markowitz use a wealth of new data and cutting-edge social science tools to meticulously explore the various relationships that exist among these actors in Central Asia and provide an invaluable framework for understanding the different roles of state actors within these networks. This is an invaluable contribution to the academic literature and regional policy discussions.

Erica Marat, author of The Politics of Police Reform: Society Against the State in Post-Soviet Countries:
A groundbreaking study of the drug trafficking-terrorism nexus, Webs of Corruption is applicable across the globe. A must-read for anyone studying the links among organized crime, state weakness, and political violence.

Roger Kangas, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies:
Omelicheva and Markowitz’s research on the “crime-terror nexus” is refreshing and innovative, challenging conclusions often drawn on it. By bringing the state—both institutions and personalities—into the analytical mix, Omelicheva and Markowitz not only offer an explanation for how these transnational phenomena exist in Central Asia but also a logical framework for how to assess them in other geographic sub-regions of the world. Without question, Central Asian studies specialists and experts on terrorism and narcotics trafficking will benefit from a close reading of this volume.