The Assault on the StateStephen E. Hanson is the Lettie Pate Evans Professor of Government at William & Mary. He is the author of numerous scholarly books and articles on Russian, post communist, and European politics in comparative perspective. Jeffrey S. Kopstein is Dean's Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California, Irvine. He has written widely on democracy and dictatorship, political violence, and