Runaway State-Building

"An ambitious book which contributes to the literature on party-building and patronage politics in important ways. Its challenge to the Europeanization literature will particularly interest students of the European Union. The author has written a theoretically sophisticated comparative study which illuminates both convergence and divergence in the European Union's new accession states and helps us all to better understand when and why the European Union does—or does not—matter."—Alberta Sbragia, director, European Union Center of Excellence

"The product of painstaking research — and a keen intellect."—Ray Taras, Russian Review

"Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through practitioners."—Choice

"Interesting and instructive comparative political analysis."—Donald Pienkos, Polish Review

"O'Dwyer's book is an important contribution to the literature on post-communist development."—Neil Robinson, Europe-Asia Studies

"The uniqueness of the book lies in its theoretical sophistication substantiated by numerous empirical comparisons across the globe, which makes it a valuable contribution to the literature on comparative politics and political sociology."—Sarbeswar Sahoo, Political Studies Review

"It is fully justified to call O'Dwyer's book 'a vital contribution to the growing literature on the postcommunist state.'"—Aleksander Surdej, European Political Science

"O'Dwyer's excellent book is surely strong enough to warrant a sequel."—Karen Dawisha, Perspectives on Politics

"Extremely thought provoking and well researched."—Steven Saxonberg, Slavic Review