Nancy Ries, Professor of Anthropology and Peach and Conflict Studies, recently published an article titled Thugocracy: bandit regimes and state capture in Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies. According to the article abstract, Professor Ries analyzes the Trump, Putin, and Zuma regimes as “thugocracies,” which she describes as “projects of sophisticated state capture, through organized crime networks at every level of scale, and utilizing complex arrays of mafia tactics, personnel, and practices.”