Bridging State and Civil Society provides an in-depth study of parts of Central Asia and Afghanistan that remain marginalized from the larger region. As such, the people have developed distinct ways of governing and surviving, sometimes in spite of the state and in part because of informal organizations. Suzanne Levi-Sanchez provides eight case studies, each an independent look at a particular informal organization, but each also part of a larger picture that helps the reader understand the importance and key role that informal organizations play for civil society and the state. Each case explores how informal organizations operate and investigates their structures and interactions with official state institutions, civil society, familial networks, and development organizations. As such, each chapter explores the concepts through a different lens while asking a deceptively simple question: What is the relationship between informal organizations and the state?

About the Author

Suzanne Levi-Sanchez is Associate Professor in the National Security Affairs Department at United States Naval War College.

Reviews
This is a unique study, based on both scholarship and participant observation, of social and political organization and events in a part of the world that feels remote but is very important ... a major contribution to the literature on state strength, organization of civil society, state-society relations, and pluralism." - Don Van Atta, Fellow, Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

"A treasure trove of rich information and insight into borderland informal organization in Central Asia of interest to regional specialists as well as those studying transnational informal and trafficking networks more broadly. It is rare to see this amount of detail and information drawn from such volatile areas." - Chris Jasparro, Ph.D, and author of Wildlife Trafficking and Poaching: Contemporary Context and Dynamics for Security Cooperation and Military Assistance



Book Information
ISBN 9780472132775
Author Suzanne Levi-Sanchez
Format Hardback
Page Count 362
Imprint The University of Michigan Press
Publisher The University of Michigan Press