State-Building as Lawfare explores the use of state and non-state legal systems by both politicians and ordinary people in postwar Chechnya. The book addresses two interrelated puzzles: why do local rulers tolerate and even promote non-state legal systems at the expense of state law, and why do some members of repressed ethnic minorities choose to resolve their everyday disputes using state legal systems instead of non-state alternatives? The book documents how the rulers of Chechnya promote and reinvent customary law and Sharia in order to borrow legitimacy from tradition and religion, increase autonomy from the metropole, and accommodate communal authorities and former rebels. At the same time, the book shows how prolonged armed conflict disrupted the traditional social hierarchies and pushed some Chechen women to use state law, spurring state formation from below.

This book explores how politicians and individuals use state and non-state legal systems to achieve political goals in Chechnya.

About the Author
Egor Lazarev is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University and a Scholar at the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies.

Reviews
'This is a fascinating, deeply researched, and creative study of legal pluralism in Chechnya. Based on months of ethnographic field work, scores of interviews and informal conversations, and analysis of original surveys, State-Building as Lawfare contributes to our understanding of post-conflict dynamics and the impact of warfare on state and society, and, especially, on gender.' Matthew Evangelista, Cornell University
'A marvel of comparative politics scholarship. Blending surveys, courtroom observations, and interviews, Lazarev shows us how officials manipulate state and non-state legal systems and how ordinary people make choices that shape state sovereignty.' Mark Fathi Massoud, UC Santa Cruz and author of Shari'a, Inshallah
'State Building as Lawfare is a tour de force. Contra the conventional wisdom, Lazarev highlights how government officials and members of the population both engage in "forum shopping" between state and non-state justice institutions to advance their interests, resulting in a bottom-up process of state-building that is deeply gendered. Based on exceptional multi-methods fieldwork in Chechnya, a challenging site for rigorous research, Lazarev combines extensive interviews and observations with original surveys and administrative data.' Melani Cammett, Harvard University



Book Information
ISBN 9781009245951
Author Egor Lazarev
Format Hardback
Page Count 300
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 660g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 158mm * 26mm