The Informal and the Criminal: State-Building as an Extralegal Field

Abstract

How do informal and criminal activities affect externally assisted state-building processes? The study of extralegal economic and political structures presents a challenge to established definitions, methods of inquiry and disciplinary boundaries. This research note illuminates key aspects of the study of peace-building and state-building beyond the realm of the formal, the legal and the official. It does so by reviewing existing literature on war economies and hybrid peace and by taking stock of the methodological choices that have shaped my research agenda on state formation and transformation in the Balkan region.