In Venelin I. Ganev's reading, the state does not disappear overnight. Rather, it is gradually gutted of its most important functional capacities by members of the state itself or by powerful economic elites with old state connections and knowledge. This development leaves postsocialist society with institutions that are distorted, incapacitated, or both. This exceptionally readable book will enjoy a broad audience among political scientists, sociologists, and political economists interested in transition issues, and also among students in those areas.

A wonderfully contrarian book, Preying on the State compellingly contradicts both the Washington consensus and its numerous critics, who accuse the neoliberals of wrecking states. Did neoliberals possess the power to have wrought such consequences? And if they didn't, who stole the postcommunist states, and why and how did they do so? This is a landmark study of corruption with implications for the whole world.

This is a wonderfully provocative, thoughtful, articulate, and learned book. Venelin I. Ganev's interpretations will appeal to scholars not only of postcommunism but also of the state, informal institutions, and institutional transformation.

The work of Venelin Ganev is what area studies should be at its best: rich in local knowledge and theoretically sophisticated enough to make explicit the links between one country and the whole world.

This is the best book on the postcommunist state. Almost two decades after 1989, political scientists now know that democracy is not enough. Venelin I. Ganev's erudite and insightful book shows us how difficult it has been to transform the smothering communist state into a competent agent of market regulation and social security.

For decades, students of democratization and economic reform have neglected the study of the state. While regimes and markets were in motion-emerging, consolidating, or eroding-state institutions were treated as if they did not change at all. In Preying on the State, Venelin I. Ganev argues convincingly why changes in state institutions have constituted the real drama in post-communist transitions. His book provides the definitive treatment of post-communist politics in Bulgaria, while also making provocative arguments derived from his 'reversed Tillyan perspective' which will resonate with anyone interested in state formation and deformation.