Vanda Felbab-Brown and Shadi Hamid, both senior fellows in the Foreign Policy program, discuss their new book Militants, Criminals, and Warlords: The Challenge of Local Governance in an Age of Disorder with the director of the Brookings Institution Press Bill Finan. In the interview and in their new book, co-authored by Harold Trinkunas, Felbab-Brown and Hamid address the origins of some of these nonstate actors and make recommendations on how the international community should address them.
Also in this episode, Molly Reynolds explains how polarization and gridlock in the appropriations process create the possibility of a government shutdown in our regular “What’s Happening in Congress” segment.
Show notes:
Tackling crime and illicit economies isn’t just a technical exercise—it’s an intensely political one
How predatory crime and corruption in Afghanistan underpin the Taliban insurgency
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Thanks to audio producer Gaston Reboredo with assistance from Mark Hoelscher, and to producer Brennan Hoban. Additional support comes from Chris McKenna, Jessica Pavone, Eric Abalahin, Rebecca Viser, and David Nassar.
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Commentary
PodcastWhen militants, criminals, and warlords take over
Vanda Felbab-Brown,
Vanda Felbab-Brown
Director
- Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors,
Co-Director
- Africa Security Initiative,
Senior Fellow
- Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology
@VFelbabBrown
Shadi Hamid,
Shadi Hamid
Senior Fellow
- Foreign Policy, Center for Middle East Policy
@shadihamid
Fred Dews, and
Fred Dews
Managing Editor, New Digital Products
- Office of Communications
@publichistory
Bill Finan
Bill Finan
Director
- Brookings Institution Press
@billfinan
December 8, 2017