The author draws on behavioral ecology to predict the evolution of organized crime in unregulated systems of exchange and the further development of racketeer economies into unstable kleptocratic states. The result is a new model that explains the expansion and contraction of political-economic complexity in prehistoric and contemporary societies.
"Hirschfeld ? has produced a gem of a work that is both multidisciplinary in its approach and intellectually seductive. Within the context of traditional organized crime studies, its amoral analytics may be viewed as highly disruptive-almost heretical-in nature. Contrarian and well executed works such as this should be greatly valued for their 'out of the box' perspectives and ability to shake up what can at times become an insular and dogmatic discipline." (Robert J. Bunker, Trends in Organized Crime, June, 2016)
"This innovative and engaging book provides ananthropologist's assessment of some of the problems besetting much of the developing world." - Robert I. Rotberg, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2015, 49(6)
