Book excerpt: This book explores the long-term impact on democracy and institution-building in post-conflict and transitory societies, stemming from the political integration of former combatants of intra-state armed groups. By providing a comparative analysis on two countries with certain commonalities but also sufficient differences to warrant an intriguing comparison – Kosovo and North Macedonia – the author undertakes an examination of their respective political trajectories with a focus on the role of combatants turned politicians. Revolving around the concepts of democracy and political inclusion versus clientelism, corruption, and institutional capture, the objective is to shed light on the correlation between the inclusion of former combatants in politics, democratisation and institution-building, and the perpetuation of clientelist behavior and other illicit phenomena. In so doing, the book explores the novel concept of democracy spoilers in transitory societies. This volume will be of interest to scholars and students of democracy, nation-building, institution-building, and security studies.