In this book, through case studies, the author 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. She 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.

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.