This review has been submitted to The Journal of the RCAF
Title: Thieves
of State
Author:
Sarah Chayes
ISBN:
978-0-393-23946-1
Publisher:
Norton
Year:
2015
Hardcover
Pages:
262
Photos/Maps:
0/7
Media
and Government attention, traditionally and more notably during the last 15
years, has been focused upon the economics and operational tactics of
identified terrorist groups and their supporters. A phenomenal amount of
military and economic resource has been brought to bear in an effort to crush
these organizations. Notably missing from the dialogue however, has been
attention to those governments whose actions have instigated, enabled and
facilitated these activities. Nor does it appear that there is a clear understanding
of the direct link between the corrupt practices of national leadership and an appreciation
of its impact upon the ability of fringe organizations to advance their causes.
Chayes’s book sheds a blinding light upon the clear connection between these
activities, their impact and western government’s reluctance to acknowledge
them.
Starting
with a discussion of the writings of Locke, Milton, Nizam al-Mulk, Luther and Machiavelli
(to name but a few) she looks at the repeated acknowledgement of the
responsibility of leaders to their people; the so called ‘Mirrors of Princes’
treaties. These were texts emphasizing the critical necessity of leadership to
be accountable to the people whom they lead (and the potential impacts if they
are not followed). This book is not however, a dry political analysis; Chayes
draws upon her 10 years of work in Afghanistan as a reporter, an entrepreneur
and a foreign policy adviser to the US military in order to draft an accessible
and eminently readable discussion of the endemic corruption of the Karzai government
and the response of the US political and military establishments.
Her
approach is not jaundiced but balanced and telling, and her examination of the
issues and of the impact that pervasive corruption has upon the ability of
fringe elements to recruit and operate, extremely effective. The author has
broken out her analysis into distinctive methods or techniques of corruption;
each having in common a “bottom up flow” of monies. Those practicing systemic
corruption she identifies as ‘Kleptocracies’ further breaking them down into
sub-categories such as: Resource, Post-Soviet, Bureaucratic,
Military-Kleptocratic Complex and Vertically Integrated Criminal Syndicates.
Each type is explained in detail with examples and facts.
Additionally,
Chaye discusses how populations, denied access to legitimate forms of redress
due to corrupt officials and entities, are left with no option but revolt as a
means of addressing their grievances. Thus, groups such as Boko Haram (the name
means roughly Western Education is Forbidden), initially a fringe,
self-sustaining community was driven into armed rebellion by the unethical
practices of the Nigerian police and bureaucracy. Their name was derived from
the fact that Nigerians know their civil service to be absolutely corrupt and
also that to get a job within said civil service one has to have a western
style degree from a university. Thus irrespective of the logic of their belief,
they have equated the corruption with not only the system of government but
also the education needed to work within that system. It is critical to the
determination of effective responses to these groups that the root causes of
their formation be acknowledged and addressed as part of the solution.
Recognizing
this, Chaye provides a series of practical actions that governments may take in
order to influence the behaviours of corrupt regimes. These multi-faceted
approaches run the gambit from aid and financially based approaches to
diplomatic and business focused tactics. Unavoidable within these
methodologies is the necessity to work in tandem with other nations to ensure a
common front.
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