Biography

Lawrence P. Markowitz is Professor of Political Science at Rowan University. He has served as Chair of Department of Political Science & Economics (2018-2027) and Director of the Hollybush Institute for Global Peace and Security (2013-2015). From 2020 to 2024, Professor Markowitz was Project Director of a US Department of Education UISFL grant that expanded Rowan University's international studies and foreign language programs. 

Professor Markowitz’s research specializes in the study of state building, authoritarianism, and political violence, with a regional focus on post-Soviet Eurasia. He is the author of two books: State Erosion: Unlootable Resources and Unruly Elites in Central Asia (Cornell University Press, 2013) and (with Mariya Y. Omelicheva) Webs of Corruption: Trafficking and Terrorism in Central Asia (Columbia University Press, 2019). State Erosion was awarded Honorable Mention for the 2014 Ed A Hewitt Book Prize given by the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, for “an outstanding monograph on the political economy of Russia, Eurasia and/or Eastern Europe, published in the previous year.” His work has also appeared in a variety of academic journals and edited volumes.

Professor Markowitz received his M.A. in International Affairs from American University’s School of International Service and his Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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