cover image Warlords, Inc.: Black Markets, Broken States, and the Rise of the Warlord Entrepreneur

Warlords, Inc.: Black Markets, Broken States, and the Rise of the Warlord Entrepreneur

Edited by Noah Raford and Andrew Trabulsi. North Atlantic, $14.95 trade paper (180p) ISBN 978-1-58394-901-6

This densely academic set of essays about drug cartels and violent insurgencies will be absolutely gripping for the right audience. The focus is on the importance of non-state actors—whether they are hackers, Wall Street corporations, Afghan tribal leaders, or Indian left-wing insurgents—in the modern geopolitical landscape. The authors look at how these actors disrupt the modern economy, provide pseudo-governmental services, and figure into both contemporary globalization and possible future changes brought about by climate change and regional instabilities. This is not a light read, but anyone with sufficient prior background in political science and theory should be fascinated by the breadth of topics covered. The non-state actors surveyed are loosely organized into the definitively destructive (Mexican drug cartels), the ambiguous (India’s Maoist Naxalite guerillas), and the positive (George Soros). While such a wide-ranging collection can provide only the beginning of insight into these complex topics, it will ably serve to whet the intellectual appetites of its readers. (May)