Alumna Christine Cheng's book wins critical acclaim

Alumna Christine Cheng, Senior Lecturer in International Relations at King's College London, has been nominated for—and won—a series of prestigious prizes from organisations like the Canadian Political Studies Association, the American Political Science Association, and the Conflict Research Society for her latest book, Extralegal groups in post-conflict Liberia: How trade makes the state.

The book investigates 'how extralegal groups are driven to provide basic governance goods in their bid to create a stable commercial environment', focusing on Liberia after the civil war.

Recently, Extralegal groups in post-conflict Liberia was shortlisted for the 2020 CPSA Prize in Comparative Politics. The panel noted that the book was an 'excellent contribution' that 'comes at a time when in many parts of the world the state has lost control of vast swathes of territory or is no longer considered legitimate, providing the opportunity for extra-legal groups to fill spaces that are otherwise considered lawless and unregulated'.

In addition, the book also received an Honourable Mention from APSA's African Politics Conference Group: 'makes important conceptual, theoretical and empirical contributions to our understanding of the emergence, development and functions of extralegal groups thereby enriching the African politics literature and comparative politics literature more generally'.

Last year, Extralegal groups in post-conflict Liberia won the 2019 CRS Book of the Year Prize for its 'compelling arguments rethinking the role of extra-legal groups in post-conflict state-building and how trade makes the state'. 

• 2020 CPSA Prize in Comparative Politics
• Winner of 2019 Conflict Research Society Book of the Year Prize