A Savage Order: How the World's Deadliest Countries Can Forge a Path to Security

Written by Rachel Kleinfeld

Narrated by Joyce Bean

The most violent places in the world today are not at war. More people have died in Mexico in recent years than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. These parts of the world are instead buckling under a maelstrom of gangs, organized crime, political conflict, corruption, and state brutality. Such devastating violence can feel hopeless, yet some places—from Colombia to the Republic of Georgia—have been able to recover.

In this powerfully argued and urgent book, Rachel Kleinfeld examines why some democracies, including our own, are crippled by extreme violence and how they can regain security. Drawing on fifteen years of study and firsthand field research—interviewing generals, former guerrillas, activists, politicians, mobsters, and law enforcement in countries around the world—Kleinfeld tells the stories of societies that successfully fought seemingly ingrained violence and offers penetrating conclusions about what must be done to build governments that are able to protect the lives of their citizens.

Taking on existing literature and popular theories about war, crime, and foreign intervention, A Savage Order is a blistering yet inspiring investigation into what makes some countries peaceful and others war zones, and a blueprint for what we can do to help.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Nov 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781978643208

Rachel Kleinfeld

RACHEL KLEINFELD is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the founding CEO of the Truman National Security Project. She served under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the U.S. State Department's Foreign Affairs Policy Board and has consulted for the U.S., as well as the U.K. and other foreign governments on how to improve their foreign interventions, along with the World Bank, the European Union, the OECD, and many other institutions. She is the author of numerous book chapters, papers, and articles, as well as two books published by think tanks and op-eds in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. She has made numerous appearances on Fox & Friends, The Sean Hannity Show, CNN, BBC, NPR, The Montel Williams Show, Left Jab, and WBAI NYC. Kleinfeld received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.Phil and D.Phil from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes scholar. She serves on the supervisory board of the Justice Leadership Group, a sister organization to Nelson Mandela's The Elders.

Reviews for A Savage Order

[herbthomas · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kleinfeld tackles one of the most important and vexing problems in today's world: how societies can cure themselves of violence, criminality, and corruption. She argues that the most destabilizing violence is "Privilege Violence," when a ruling class or criminal gang defends its privileges by deploying thugs--private armies, even--to suppress and terrorize political opponents, other classes, ethnic groups or races. When Privilege Violence takes hold, the government of an affected country cedes its monopoly on the apparatus of law enforcement--its monopoly, ultimately, on violence.Focusing on Colombia, Sicily, Georgia, and Bihar State in India, with significant comparisons to the United States (especially the American South), Kleinfeld describes how skillful and courageous political leaders have restored peace, democracy, and civility to countries afflicted with Privilege Violence, often by making temporary dirty deals with corrupt politicians, oligarchs and guerrilla leaders: "Countries do not exit Privilege Violence smoothly. They lurch backward and sideways as citizens opt for repression or governments lean toward authoritarianism. Successful reforms spur opponents to regroup. Dirty deals can lead to another round of bloodshed. The places chronicled in this book have far to go. Yet despite their convoluted trajectories, each has made real progress in fostering a state that is less violent, in a sustainable way." (p. 247) Kleinfeld is mindful of the mistakes that the United States and European democracies make in trying to assist countries in the throes of violence. In particular, "security assistance" in the form of weapons and equipment often props up "states ruling through Privilege Violence." (p. 283), and economic aid can sometimes heighten ethnic tensions (in Afghanistan, for example). Calling for more sophisticated approaches, she warns that even the most well-intentioned foreign involvement can be unwelcome. Kleinfeld is strikingly well-informed and she draws on an amazing range of scholarship in arriving at prescriptions for healing violent societies. The 300 pages of text are followed by 105 pages of notes and a 38-page bibliography. Her prose is sharp and engaging and her train of thought is usually easy to follow, although there is an occasional page or two that is confusing.