Lawrence P. Markowitz draws on his extensive fieldwork in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to advance a theory of state failure focused on unlootable resources, rent seeking, and unruly elites.

Lawrence P. Markowitz is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Rowan University.

Markowitz therefore offers a vivid and much-needed picture of the nuances of the post-Soviet transformations in the countries of Central Asia. The perceptiveness of his analysis makes his book one of the most ambitious and provocative considerations of the dynamics and transformation of state institutions in weak and fragile states. In face, his analysis will illuminate the explorations not only of scholars of post-Soviet and post-communist statehood, but of anyone interested in weak statehood.

Alexander Cooley, Barnard College, Columbia University, author of Base Politics: Democratic Change and the U.S. Military Overseas:

Drawing on a wealth of original research on the hidden political economy of security institutions, State Erosion explores why Central Asian states continue to defy outside predictions of imminent collapse. Lawrence P. Markowitz's clever account of how state security services use resource endowments for their unofficial entrepreneurial activities is a major contribution to the study of Central Asian political development and offers helpful guidance to scholars and policymakers about the determinants of state fragility and survival worldwide.

Eric M. McGlinchey, George Mason University, author of Chaos, Violence, Dynasty: Politics and Islam in Central Asia:

State Erosion is a joy to read—it is an excellent book about the role that diverging trajectories of state security structures play in state consolidation (in the case of Uzbekistan) and state fragmentation (in the case of Tajikistan). Lawrence P. Markowitz has made a major contribution to our understanding of weak states not only in Central Asia but also in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. State Erosion is essential reading in comparative politics.