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Author:   Erica L. Gaston
Publisher:   Columbia University Press
Imprint:   Columbia University Press
ISBN:  

9780231210126

ISBN 10:   0231210124
Pages:   424
Publication Date:   30 July 2024
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Preface: On the Heels of Militia Mobilization List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. Theoretical Framework: Agency Theory Versus Foreign Policy Analysis 2. Bargaining Moments and Structures: Comparing the Sons of Iraq and the Afghan Local Police 3. Searching for Unicorns: Risk Mitigation in the Internal and External Policy Deliberations Over Syrian Armed Groups 4. Standard Operating Procedures and Exceptions to the Rule: Organizational Lenses and Bureaucratic Transfer, from Local Force Initiatives to Counterterrorism Auxiliaries 5. Change Over Time: Transnational Networks, the Leahy Law, and Human Rights Checks for Local and Substate Forces 6. Foreign Players in the Mix: Direct and Indirect Bargaining and Influence Strategies by Non-U.S. Governments Conclusion Acknowledgments Bibliography Notes Index

Reviews

This book is a grim but necessary autopsy of America’s policy failures. The U.S. believed it could manage the risks of recruiting militias as proxy forces in the Middle East. With intrepid field research, extensive interviews, and sharp analytical thinking, Gaston shows why these efforts often proved ineffective or counterproductive. -- Ariel I. Ahram, author of <i>Break all the Borders: Separatism and the Reshaping of the Middle East</i>

This book is a grim but necessary autopsy of America’s policy failures. The U.S. believed it could manage the risks of recruiting militias as proxy forces in the Middle East. With intrepid field research, extensive interviews, and sharp analytical thinking, Gaston shows why these efforts often proved ineffective or counterproductive. -- Ariel I. Ahram, author of <i>Break all the Borders: Separatism and the Reshaping of the Middle East</i> For years, Erica Gaston has been a leading fieldwork researcher on paramilitary groups, militias, local governance, and violent internal conflicts. Her impressive on-the-ground research, running from Afghanistan to Iraq and beyond, has often revealed crucial dynamics escaping established policy. Her excellent book masterfully marries this unbeatable ground-truth knowledge with new insights. Once again, it fiercely challenges established policy dogma, but, as always, does so with nuance, objectivity and deep appreciation for regional variation. -- Vanda Felbab-Brown, Director of the Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

Author Information

Erica L. Gaston is senior policy advisor and head of the Conflict Prevention and Sustaining Peace Programme at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research. She is also an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a nonresident fellow at both the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Global Public Policy Institute.

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