Dr. Erica Marat’s research focuses on organized crime, violence, mobilization, and security institutions in Central Asia, North Asia, and Europe. She has received multiple grants from the Minerva R-DEF (US) and the Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (UK), and her research spans a dozen countries across the globe. Her articles appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Financial Times, and Just Security.
In addition to her research, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of Central Asian Survey, a leading journal focusing on Central Asia and the South Caucasus. She is also an adjunct professor at the Foreign Service Institute, Georgetown University.
Dr. Marat joined CISA in 2014 and has since served as Director of the Homeland Security Fellowship and Department Chair of Regional and Analytic Studies. She currently teaches courses on Power, Ideology, and Legitimacy (PIL), Analysis and Critical Thinking (ACT), Dynamics of Irregular Warfare (DIW), and Countering Irregular Warfare (CIW).
Books:
A Farewell to Liberalism: China, Russia, and the Global Demand for Illiberal Governance (forthcoming in 2027, Cornell University Press), co-authored with Marlene Laruelle.
Decolonial Disruptions in Central Asia: Discussion, Practices, and Networks (Cambridge Elements 2026), co-authored with Aizada Arystanbek.
Introducing Central Asia and the South Caucasus, edited volume (Routledge 2026).
Transformative Violence: When Routine Cruelty Sparks Historic Mobilization (Oxford University Press 2024).
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Central Asia (Routledge 2022), co-edited with Rico Isaacs.
The Politics of Police Reform: Society against the State in Post-Soviet Countries (Oxford University Press 2018).
The Military and the State in Central Asia: From Red Army to Independence (Routledge 2009).
The Tulip Revolution: One Year After (Jamestown Foundation 2006).
Other notable publications (selected):
“After Russia: Post-Imperial Imaginaries”, forthcoming, co-authored with Byron LeFlore
“Criminal Geographies: How the Russia-Ukraine War has Reshaped Global Crime Networks.” SOC ACE Research Paper No. 40 (2026). University of Birmingham. Co-authored with Alexander Kupatadze.
“China and Russia as Service Providers for Illiberal Governance.” World Affairs 187, no. 4 (2024): 387–403. Co-authored with Marlene Laruelle and Gagan Atreya. https://doi.org/10.1002/waf2.12044.
"Reclaiming the narrative: Decolonising Central Asian studies for a more inclusive understanding." APSA Comparative Politics Newsletter 33, no. 1 (2023): 9-12. Co-authored with Botakoz Kassymbekova
Drug trafficking, violence and corruption in Central Asia. University of Birmingham. Co-authored with Gulzat Botoeva. SOC ACE Research Paper No. 7. (2022). Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham.
“Time to Question Russia's Imperial Innocence.” PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo (2022). Co-authored with Botakoz Kassymbekova
“Technological Solutions for Complex Problems: Emerging Electronic Surveillance Regimes in Eurasian Cities”. Europe-Asia Studies 73, no. 1 (2021), 243–267. Co-authored with Deborah Sutton. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2020.1832965
Mimicking ‘broken windows’ policing in post-soviet cities: expanding social control in uncertain times. Policing and Society 29, no. 9 (2019), 1005–1021. https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2018.1448396