Edmund Herzig is a Senior Lecturer in Persian Studies at the University of Manchester. He is an expert on the history and politics of the Middle East and the Caucasian region. His many writings include Iran and the Soviet South and The New Caucasus. He is the author of The New Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Marina Kurkchiyan is a Fellow in Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford, specialising in the post-communist transition in Armenia, Russia and Ukraine. Her empirical research focuses on social policy and the informal economy. Her publications include Economic Crime in Russia and Law and Informal Practices. She co-edited Law and Informal Practices: The Post-Communist Experience and Economic Crime in Russia.