Steven Heydemann, Senior Advisor, United States Institute of Peace:
"In using the issue of corruption to address questions about the development and effects of state institutions, Reinoud Leenders usefully highlights the often overlooked role of the Lebanese state in shaping economic behavior. He offers a compelling and richly theoretical argument about the centrality of the Lebanese state in explaining the prominence of corruption in Lebanon and its effects on patterns of economic and political governance. In the process, Leenders has produced the most important work on Lebanon's political economy in a generation."
Robert Springborg, Naval Postgraduate School, co-author of Globalization and the Politics of Development in the Middle East:
"At last we have a thorough, insightful study of corruption in an Arab country that is theoretically grounded, empirically rich, and convincing in its fundamental premise that corruption is the inherent by-product of a defective political system. Sadly, Reinoud Leenders's book is also highly relevant to Arab politics more generally for, like Lebanon, more than 50 percent of the Arab countries rank in the bottom half of the Corruption Perception Index. His insights are eminently transportable."
""Through rich descriptions of select postwar institutionsSpoils of Truce advances our knowledge of corruption beyond existing aggregate survey indicators and anecdotal evidence. The result is a more-complete understanding not just of the magnitude and dynamics of corruption, but also of how crucial institutions evolved between 1989 and 2005..... The demand for an alternative theoretical framework originates in the intriguing possibilities offered by the book's careful investigation of corruption cases and how they interact with these struggles. It is above all a testament to Leenders’s success in arguing that public institutions deserve a central place even in contexts where they are especially vulnerable to political manipulation." –Julia Choucair-Vizoso, Political Science Quarterly"
Élizabeth Picard:
"Here is the most remarkable study day on the Lebanese political system and its operation since the end of the Civil War and the Taif Agreement.... This reads like a fascinating detective story except that it is real people who find themselves without care and without electricity, millions of dollars disappear into private pockets and a country that participated in sixes and sevens."
""...Reinoud Leenders' 'Spoils of Truce: Corruption and State-Building in Postwar Lebanon' not only offers an interesting read for the general reader, but would also provide excellent material for students in international and political sciences at bachelor and master level, as well as for researchers, experts, consultatnts and politicians." — JIRS Editorial Board, Journal of Intercultural and Religious Studies"
"One of the most disturbing legacies of the post-civil war experience in Lebanon has been the persistence of corruption in the country's sociopolitical institutions. In this well-researched book, Leenders... examines the myriad causes of corruption in the country.... [and] convincingly demonstrates how Lebanon's archaic political system perpetuates corruption.... Although the book's focus is on Lebanon, the author's theoretical arguments can be applied to the study of corruption in many other Arab countries. Summing Up: Highly recommended."
Marie-Joëlle Zahar, Université de Montréal:
"Spoils of Truce is based on a wealth of information about corruption in postwar Lebanon. Reinoud Leenders convincingly links corruption to the nature of state institutions, thus rehabilitating the study of the state and its role in shaping Lebanese politics."
