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Sarah Chayes

Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security Paperback – March 7, 2016

by Sarah Chayes (Author)

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Winner of the 2015 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest.

"I can’t imagine a more important book for our time." ―Sebastian Junger

The world is blowing up. Every day a new blaze seems to ignite: the bloody implosion of Iraq and Syria; the East-West standoff in Ukraine; abducted schoolgirls in Nigeria. Is there some thread tying these frightening international security crises together? In a riveting account that weaves history with fast-moving reportage and insider accounts from the Afghanistan war, Sarah Chayes identifies the unexpected link: corruption.

Since the late 1990s, corruption has reached such an extent that some governments resemble glorified criminal gangs, bent solely on their own enrichment. These kleptocrats drive indignant populations to extremes―ranging from revolution to militant puritanical religion. Chayes plunges readers into some of the most venal environments on earth and examines what emerges: Afghans returning to the Taliban, Egyptians overthrowing the Mubarak government (but also redesigning Al-Qaeda), and Nigerians embracing both radical evangelical Christianity and the Islamist terror group Boko Haram. In many such places, rigid moral codes are put forth as an antidote to the collapse of public integrity.

The pattern, moreover, pervades history. Through deep archival research, Chayes reveals that canonical political thinkers such as John Locke and Machiavelli, as well as the great medieval Islamic statesman Nizam al-Mulk, all named corruption as a threat to the realm. In a thrilling argument connecting the Protestant Reformation to the Arab Spring, Thieves of State presents a powerful new way to understand global extremism. And it makes a compelling case that we must confront corruption, for it is a cause―not a result―of global instability.

Print length

272 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Norton
Publication date

March 7, 2016
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.68 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

9780393352283
ISBN-13

978-0393352283
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Makes a strong case that acute corruption causes not only social breakdown but also violent extremism. . . . An important book that should be required reading for officials in foreign service, and for those working in commerce or the military. The story will interest the nonspecialist reader too."
― Giles Foden, New York Times Book Review

"Should be required reading."
― Thomas Friedman

"[A] fascinating story. . . . [T]he central revelation in Thieves of the State: at a certain point, systemic corruption became not just a lamentable by-product of the war but an accelerant of conflict . . . Chayes argues, convincingly, [that state-sanctioned larceny is] a threat not just to Afghanistan’s national security but to that of the United States."
― Patrick Radden Keefe, New Yorker

"[Chayes] tells the story of what happened in Afghanistan brilliantly, and compares her experience there with the current corruption in Egypt, Russia and the dismal rest . . . [a] page-turner."
― Deirdre N. McCloskey, Wall Street Journal

"Essential."
― G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs

"Informative, thought-provoking, very interesting and concisely written. . . . Through personal experience and her own research, Chayes makes a simple yet profound argument."
― Taylor Dibbert, Huffington Post

"A revolutionary book. Sarah Chayes weaves together history, adventure, political analysis, personal experience, culture, and religion in a shimmering and compelling tapestry."
― Anne-Marie Slaughter

"A vivid, ground-level view on how pervasive corruption undermines U.S. foreign policy and breeds insurgency. Thieves of State provides critical lessons that all policymakers should heed."
― Francis Fukuyama

"Sarah Chayes brilliantly illuminates a topic no one wants talk about―but we must. Corruption is an insidious force that is causing some of the most dangerous challenges our world is facing. It has to be at the core of America’s strategies, engagements and relationships for the twenty-first century."
― Admiral (ret.) Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

About the Author

An award-winning former NPR correspondent, foreign policy expert, and entrepreneur with ten years’ experience in Afghanistan, Sarah Chayes is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment and the author of The Punishment of Virtue. She lives in Washington, DC.

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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0393352285
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Norton; Reprint edition (March 7, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780393352283
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393352283
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.68 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #502,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #342 in Non-US Legal Systems (Books)
- #353 in Comparative Politics
- #749 in Political Corruption & Misconduct

Customer Reviews:
295 ratings

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Sarah Chayes

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My zig-zag trajectory has led from reporting from Paris for National Public Radio and covering the fall of the Taliban in 2001, to running a soap factory in downtown Kandahar in the midst of a reigniting insurgency. (Chronicled in "The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban"). By the end of my decade in Afghanistan, I was serving as special advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen.

I left the Pentagon for a five year stint at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where I examined other developing countries considered corrupt, to see if patterns I had discovered in Afghanistan applied elsewhere. Turns out, they do. (See "Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security.")

Now, sick at heart, I have applied the same methodology to my own beloved country, the United States. Read the shocking results in "On Corruption in America -- And What Is at Stake."

I will be discussing those findings and their implications throughout the fall of 2020.

Then...having spent so many years "disenchanting," I claim my turn to enchant.

Customer reviews

5 star		77%
4 star		12%
3 star		8%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Winter

Good insights into a very small part of the problem overseas while largely ignoring far greater corruption in USA

Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2016

Verified Purchase

Very good at describing how in Afghanistan the two presidents' administrations (which includes the CIA) have supported corrupt heads of state and this has created top down corruption as each level down the food chain has to pass a portion of their proceeds from extortion or fraud or theft up to their bosses - not unlike the mafia.

Where the book falls short is from the author's time overseas and as a result being disconnected from government and corporate corruption in the United States and how it has played a role in these regimes. The USA and the CIA supported the taliban and the CIA employed Osama bin Laden and the bin Laden family in turn has employed GH Bush after he left office. The head of Halliburton, Dick Cheney, moved from the private sector to be the vice president while retaining his stock in Halliburton. Not coincidentally the value of Halliburton stock increased dramatically thanks to the billions of dollars of no-bid contracts they received for Afghanistan and Iraq from the Bush-Cheney government. Reagan got financial support from Rumsfeld (who became a member of Reagan's transition team) and in return on Reagan's first day in office he appointed a new head of the FDA who promptly gave approval for asparteme, a dangerous food additive that had been blocked by FDA scientists, and Donald Rumsfeld as the CEO of Searle became a multi-millionaire as a result.

The author does not realize how pervasive corruption is in all levels of government in the USA. Local governments allow privatization of public lands, public water systems and public hospitals and mass transportation systems and the decisions are made by elected officials who need large campaign donations to get into and remain in office. A US senator can be purchased for as little as $20,000 in campaign contributions The process has become streamlined with the billionaires funding of ALEC, an organization that actually writes the laws for the officials to enact and make into the laws of the land.

31 people found this helpful

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Jake Bernstein

An excellent primer on how corruption works and U.S. complicity in it

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2017

Verified Purchase

In Guatemala City, as a young reporter, I saw how the street kids robbed in part because they needed to pay the cop on the beat or suffer brutal consequences. The cop then kicked up to his commanding officer in order to keep his job and illicit income. The commanding officer in turn had to pay off his superior and on it went up the chain. Thieves of State explains these pyramids of corruption in other contexts around the world. As Chayes points out in this fantastic book, U.S. policymakers have been extraordinarily slow, perhaps willfully so, in recognizing this corruption paradigm. This is a tremendous book.

Jake Bernstein
Journalist, Author

Author of “Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite” http://amzn.to/2hVuohf

18 people found this helpful

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Brian D. Rudert

Predatory governments and institutions.

Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2015

Verified Purchase

It is very easy to get depressed while reading Ms. Chayes book. Well intentioned donors and individuals need to be very careful when operating in predatory states like Afghanistan, Angola, Nigeria, etc. in that they can certainly exacerbate things. She does outline a series of extensive recommendations at the end of her book on how to Do No Harm. What she doesn't talk too much about is how resilient people are in such societies and how they are able to cope and survive. Some migrate, but most sit tight and cope with the predatory nature of institutions surrounding them. One highly theoretical solution not mentioned is Economist Paul Romer's concept of Charter Cities run by a consortium of nations. These Charter Cities would be established in predatory countries and facilitate getting government out of the way of private enterprise and letting them create needed economic activity and create jobs. Charter Cities are underway in Honduras and India and worth tracking.

25 people found this helpful

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D Walls

An extraordinary book with only one doubtful conclusion

Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is an extraordinary book that gives a very clear description of how corruption works, especially political corruption and why a government looses its people’s support in a corrupt society. It explains why nation building in countries like Afghanistan (where I worked myself for USAID) becomes a failure and why bombs and killings of perceived enemies do not solve the problem. I read this book just after having completed “Why Nations Fail” by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinsson which is based much on the same perspective, that corrupt countries have extractive institutions and more or less mafia style governments as opposed to inclusive governments where all citizens can know the rules and all have equal rights.
The only flaw I could find in the book is when the author compares todays extremists with the protestant revolution in Holland. Although the motivation was much the same, corrupt officials, it seems to me as revenge thinking and release of hatred is more dominant in Al Quida while the ravaging protestants were more geared towards antiauthoritarian thinking, to destroy oppressors, authoritarian institutions and symbols. Suicide bombers were not used in the Protestant revolutions, and it resulted in the establishment of inclusive institutions and primary schools for all. Al Quida and similar groups does not aim to promote education (except religious) or inclusive institutions, but rather submission to certain leaders, beliefs and dogmas.

16 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Eric J M Woehrling

This is one of the best books I have read this year

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 6, 2015

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This is one of the best books I have read this year. The thesis is simple: what makes insurgent and terrorist groups thrive in countries like Afghanistan is corruption and injustice, not religious beliefs or nationalistic impulses. Corruption makes their children go hungry and their businesses fail, and allows their property to be taken away. Injustice means that their wrongs are never righted, and in fact the corrupt exploiters are protected.

Chayes demonstrates that this corruption is not just perpetrated by small time officials seeking petty backhanders. It goes all the way to the top. In countries from Afghanistan to Algeria, Nigeria to Uzbekistan, it is the ruling elite which manages and takes most benefit from the corruption. The money flows to the top.

More shocking is her demonstration that Western governments deliberately and persistently turn a blind eye to this, indeed actively discourage its reporting. They are too close to and complicit with the corrupt governments with whom they are allies. In this respect, the West is actively propagating the circumstances which feed the terrorists with desperate volunteers who have lost everything - and therefore have nothing to lose.

Chayes presents her argument in writing which is crisp and incisive when analysing corrupt practices, and subtle and atmospheric when evoking the countries and people that suffer from them. She combines first hand personal experience with rigorous analysis of primary sources including US state department memos, informed by Medieval and Renaissance texts on good governance from a France to Persia. One of the most painful facts she presents in her magnificent book is that there is nothing new. Today's corruption follows the template of that against which the writers of "Mirror Books" were warning kings in the 13th century. Plus ca change.

3 people found this helpful

Tallat M Azad

An Eye Opener & a Wake Up Call

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

Excellent book, gives a new light onto why ordinary people feel the need to start taking matters into their own hands. Corruption is a virus that spreads rapidly. if unchecked. Sarah has been in the middle of it (i.e Afghanistan) and much of what she says rings true even for someone like me that has little first hand, second hand and even third hand experience of such things. The cleverness of the Afghan political elite and their undertsanding of the American psyche is quite a surprise. This does seem like a wake up call that if we, the public, allow our politicians to continue to accept the obvious injustices perpertrated by foreign governments (to whom we are providing aid blindly and without the requiste governance), intelligence agencies and larger corporations with the impunity and the apathy (from us) that they rely upon we will continue to see an erosion of social fabrics worldwide. I am glad this is getting out.

jk

Very Informative....goes back to the beginning of time.....Corruption a deep seated human conundrum

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

Insightful account of a criminal few creating oppositions (some benign & with righteous antidote but some others with seriously perverted ideologies towards an aim of recourse that never materialises) and the innocent abiding citizens bearing the brunt the world all over! Very nice

Amazon Customer

Good basic insights to how state corruption threatens global security

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

The central thesis of the author is basically that state corruption is a huge contributor to fuling hatred and gaining support for radical terror groups around the world. The book central thesis is well founded and one that should be done more to adress the violent extremism and terror groups around the world. But you get the point 30-40 pages in, and then there is just the authors own experinces (as an journalist) in various other countries where she found similair problems( i get that is what the author intended that state corruption is a global security problem), where we get some interesting insights to these countries and their own systemic way of corruption, but the analysis all feel like on an superficial level, and every country is only given about 10-20 pages each.

However even though the author notes that corruption isnt the only factor that ignites support for terror groups, the author does seem to neglect the strong idelogical factor for some of these terror groups. The author claims for example that the vast majority of Boko Haram attacks has been focused on goverment officals and the military is simply not true, and furthermore the author claims that boko haram isnt so much against western culture and civilazation, but the real meaning of their name is better understood in the context of the western education that the goverment officals recive and "use" afterwards in their high postions to rob the country. This is partly true, but again there the author neglects that the leaders of boko haram themselfs have claimed hatred for all westeren culture, the then acting leader of Boko Haram as in August 2009, Mallam Sanni Umaru, jettisoned such designation. He charged that “Boko Haram does not in any way mean ‘Western Education is a sin’ as the infidel media continue to portray us. Boko Haram actually means ‘Western Civilization’ is forbidden”.

Furthermore i personally think the author could had done without the chapter where she compared the protestant uprisings in Holland with the current unstability in the middle east. This historical comparsions is interesting, but largely it just feels like filler for the book.

Overall i did like reading the book, and it did expand my horizon on these issues, and would recommend the book.

2 people found this helpful

Ademola Lawal

An Incisive and Bold Book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 15, 2015

Verified Purchase

Thieves of State is a very bold narrative considering the personalities involved. I admire the courage of the author and believe it will encourage others who have similar experiences to speak truth to power. I think the Nigerian segment was quite lenient because Nigerians believe the thieving in the country is by far wider and more crushing than has been portrayed. One could have thought that perhaps the personalities involved in Nigeria are far too powerful to expose hence the mild portrayal. But the Afghan exposure was very daring so one tends to believe not enough work was done on Nigeria. Still on Nigeria, disbursement of funds to States is not corruption as the author tends to portray. It is a constitutional provision. However, money to these tiers of governments have been largely looted. I enjoyed the book and have passed it to my son in the college to read and learn lessons from it.

2 people found this helpful

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