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Warlords and Governance

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The Transnational Governance of Violence and Crime

Part of the book series: Governance and Limited Statehood ((GLS))

Abstract

This chapter examines the roles that warlords play in the governance of violence and crime. Warlords often cooperate with state leaders to forego violence (Chojnacki and Branovic 2011). In doing so they make informal bargains with leaders in their own capitals and bureaucratic representatives from their own states, as well as with foreign states and leaders on their borders and beyond. They also cooperate with various non-state actors, including other warlords, foreign businesses that make profitable investments on their territories, and foreign aid providers who sometimes depend on contracts with them for security provision. Furthermore, warlords can choose to protect their surrounding populations from bandit violence that would otherwise be unleashed by competing armed groups. In that sense, warlords can contribute to the provision of public goods. In all of these senses, warlords can contribute to the creation of one form or another of at least temporary order.

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Authors
  1. Kimberly Marten
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

    Anja P. Jakobi (Senior Lecturer in International Relations) (Senior Lecturer in International Relations)

  2. Peace Research Institute, Frankfurt, Germany

    Klaus Dieter Wolf (Deputy Director) (Deputy Director)

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© 2013 Kimberly Marten

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Marten, K. (2013). Warlords and Governance. In: Jakobi, A.P., Wolf, K.D. (eds) The Transnational Governance of Violence and Crime. Governance and Limited Statehood. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137334428_2

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