Paramilitaries

This article argues that the post-Dayton political organisation of Bosnia represents an exemplary illustration of the difficulties associated with the empirical application of the pluralist model of “consociational democracy”. The country’s political system has been predicated on the existence of consensus and the spirit of cooperation among the three ethnic groups without, however, offering any electoral or political incentives to their leaderships to cooperate. Also, the inclusion of several elements to the Dayton accords of a partition approach to conflict resolution has even encouraged the ethnic leaderships to maintain their nationalistic programs and their endeavours to exploit the aforementioned power-sharing arrangements. Indeed, the structural deficiencies of the Dayton agreement have permitted nationalists to continue implementing their ethnic
agendas and have accounted for the slow progress towards the implementation of the Bosnian peace process. Therefore, this article elaborates on the international policies in Bosnia, aimed at transforming the country into a viable multiethnic state, and highlights the significance of motivations for implementing the peace process.

Humanitarinių mokslų daktaras Tomas Balkelis istorijos doktorantūros studijas 2004 m. baigė Toronto universitete, keliolika metų dirbo Mančesterio, Notingamo, Dublino ir Vilniaus universitetuose. 2015–2016 m. buvo vizituojantis mokslininkas Stanfordo universitete (JAV). Jo knygos ir straipsniai spausdinami Lietuvos ir užsienio leidyklose bei mokslo žurnaluose. Tomo Balkelio tyrimų akiratyje – nacionalizmo, istorinių mitų, priverstinių migracijų, karo ir paramilitarizmo temos. Pirmoji knyga 'The Making of Modern Lithuania' (Routledge, 2009) skirta ankstyvajai lietuvių tautinio judėjimo istorijai.

Vieną iš svarbiausių Lietuvos istorijos laikotarpių nagrinėjančią Tomo Balkelio knygą Lemtingi metai 2018 m. anglų kalba pirmą kartą išleido Oksfordo universiteto leidykla. Knyga skiriama tiek Vakarų, tiek Rytų Europos skaitytojams.

'Lemtingi metai' išsamiai atskleidžia, kaip kūrėsi nepriklausoma Lietuvos valstybė ir jos visuomenė nuo Pirmojo pasaulinio karo pradžios iki 1923 m., kai pagaliau liovėsi smurtas Lietuvos ir Lenkijos pasienyje. Tačiau autorius apie visa tai pasakoja, remdamasis ne tiek politinio elito, kiek įvairių visuomenės grupių – ūkininkų, karo šauktinių, savanorių, šaulių, karo belaisvių ir pabėgėlių – patirtimis ir išgyvenimais. Jis atidžiai stebi, kaip karas pakeitė jų gyvenimus ir kaip jie keitė karo laikotarpiu besiformuojančią visuomenę. Knygoje atskleidžiami mažiau žinomi, nedaug tyrinėti, prieštaringi ir skausmingi ano meto Lietuvos istorijos epizodai: carinė evakuacija, vokiečių okupacija, revoliucija, bolševikų invazija, teroras prieš civilius gyventojus, nepriklausomybės kovos ir gyventojų mobilizacija. Autoriaus nuomone, Pirmasis pasaulinis karas ir po jo vykę audringi konfliktai buvo vieni iš svarbiausių veiksnių, formavusių moderniąją lietuvių bei kaimyninių tautų tapatybę ir nepriklausomą valstybingumą, tačiau jų padariniai buvo ilgalaikiai ir nevienareikšmiai.

In this book, Tomas Balkelis explores how the Lithuanian state was created and shaped by the Great War from its onset in 1914 to the last waves of violence in 1923. As the very notion of independent Lithuania was constructed during the war, violence is seen as an essential part of the formation of Lithuanian state, nation, and identity. War was much more than simply the historical context in which the tectonic shift from empire to nation-state took place. It transformed people, policies, institutions, and modes of thought in ways that would continue to shape the nation for decades after the conflict subsided.

In telling the story of the post-WWI conflict in Lithuania, War, Revolution, and Nation-Making in Lithuania, 1914-1923 focuses on the soldiers and civilians involved in the conflict, rather than the strategies and acts of politicians, generals, or diplomats. The volume's two main themes are the impact of military, social, and cultural mobilizations on the local population, and different types of violence that were so characteristic of the region throughout the period. The actors in this story are people displaced by war and mobilized for war: refugees, veterans, volunteers, peasant conscripts, POWs, paramilitary fighters, and others who took to guns, not diplomacy, to assert their power. This is the story of how their lives were changed by war and how they shaped the society that emerged after war.

From the deserts of Sudan to the jungles of Colombia, and from the streets of Belfast to the mountains of Kurdistan, paramilitaries have appeared in violent conflicts in very different settings. Paramilitaries are generally depicted as irregular armed organizations that carry out acts of violence against civilians on behalf of a state. In doing so, they undermine the state's monopoly of legitimate violence, while at the same time creating a breeding ground for criminal activities. Why do governments with functioning police forces and armies use paramilitary groups? This study tackles this question through the prism of the interpenetration of paramilitaries and the state.

The author interprets paramilitarism as the ability of the state to successfully outsource mass political violence against civilians that transforms and traumatizes societies. It analyses how paramilitarism can be understood in global context, and how paramilitarism is connected to transformations of warfare and state-society relations. By comparing a broad range of cases, it looks at how paramilitarism has made a profound impact in a large number of countries that were different, but nevertheless shared a history of pro-government militia activity. A thorough understanding of paramilitarism can clarify the direction and intensity of violence in wartime and peacetime. The volume examines the issues of international involvement, institutional support, organized crime, party politics, and personal ties.

Con el apoyo de www.moe.org.co [email protected] Línea gratuita nacional 01800 112 101 Bogotá -Colombia Las opiniones y análisis aquí expresados no reflejan necesariamente las opiniones de las instituciones que financiaron y apoyan esta publicación Los autores y la editora agradecen los aportes de las y los académicos, periodistas, dirigentes sociales, políticos y organizaciones de la sociedad civil que contribuyeron en la elaboración de esta Monografía Con el apoyo metodológico de:

Entre febrero de 2013 y la primavera de 2015, los grupos de autodefensas de Michoacán lograron desarticular una de las organizaciones criminales más pode-rosas de México, el cártel de Los Caballeros Templarios. Desde su creación, las autodefensas habían expresado, a través de discursos públicos e intervenciones en los medios mexicanos, que su movimiento representaba una respuesta ciudadana armada, espontánea y autónoma, destinada a combatir el mal gobierno buscaban el restablecimiento del Estado de derecho a través del mantenimiento, o más bien la restauración de un orden social, en contra de Los Caballeros Templarios. Para entender la situación que prevalecía en febrero de 2013, consideramos en este texto que el dominio ejercido por Los Caballeros Templarios entre 2011 y Las autodefensas se pueden entender como un movimiento social que nace de la formación puntual y coyuntural de una coalición que reúne grandes propietarios agrícolas, industria-les, campesinos, empleados y, quizá más sorprendente, un cierto perfil de narcotraficantes. Esta coalición heterogénea buscó inmediata y públicamente distinguirse del cártel, pero también de los gobiernos municipales y estatales denunciados como corruptos e inoperan-tes, al exigir la intervención directa del gobierno federal en contra de Los Templarios.

В книге рассмотрен феномен вооруженного сопротивления части населения против установления послевоенного устройства в странах Балкан. Работу предваряет обширная глава о событиях Второй мировой войны на Балканах,
послуживших прологом к бурным послевоенным годам. В это десятилетие в Югославии, Румынии, Албании и Болгарии повстанцами были антикоммунисты, а в Греции партизанскую войну вела местная компартия. Немаловажную роль в усиление повстанчества играло и иностранное вмешательство (Запада на просоветских территориях и СССР и союзников в Греции). Тактика повстанцев и методы антипартизанских действий властей дают обильную почву для типологических построений и изучения истории партизанской тактики. Книга написана на основании архивных источников и воспоминаний участников событий.

Prvá komplexná analýza legislatívy, štruktúr a procesov týkajúcich sa hybridných hrozieb na Slovensku v šiestich tematických oblastiach:

1. Kybernetická bezpečnosť
2. Energetická bezpečnosť
3. Strategická komunikácia
4. Zasahovanie zahraničných aktérov a ovplyvňovanie volebných procesov
5. Strategická korupcia
6. Polovojenské a extrémistické skupiny

During the first two weeks of October, Iraqi authorities were confronted with a wave of mass protests over years of administrative inefficiency, financial mismanagement and endemic corruption. Evidence of a disproportionately violent crackdown on demonstrators emerged, incriminating both state and non‑state armed elements, implying their engagement in a highly non‑transparent and rather worrisome “burden sharing” in their attempts to “protect the public order”. The accountability gap generated by such an approach has once again exposed the limitations of superficially cataloguing commissioned security providers as “state”, “non‑state”, or – currently the far more fashionable term – “hybrid” actors. Acknowledging the transactional dealings between ruling elites and the plethora of armed auxiliaries, this report seeks to show how, despite being generally considered devalued, the label “state actor” has nonetheless become a bargaining chip that unlocks access to agenda‑setting powers and institutional leverage. Once negotiated, state endorsement can often come at the expense of the state’s own institutional backbone, the bureaucratic apparatus of which can easily be transformed from hostage into enabler and, eventually, accomplice to its own debilitation. As a comparative consideration on state‑sanctioned paramilitarism shows, the paramilitary umbrella known as Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU) presents no exception to this rule.

El año 2013 marca la visibilidad de los grupos de defensa comunitaria  en México, mediante una variedad de formas organizativas, como las rondas comunitarias, los grupos de autodefensa y las policías comunitarias, así como grupos vigilantes de menor organización. Si bien la aparición de grupos defensivos contra la inseguridad, en la historia reciente, data de los años noventa del siglo pasado en Guerrero, es a inicios de la segunda década del siglo XXI  que esta emergencia se incrementó a nivel regional abarcando también el estado de Michoacán y otros puntos del país. En 2014, se calculaba que en México había alrededor de 106 grupos defensivos armados, distribuidos en 17 estados. La emergencia de nuevas organizaciones tiene que entenderse en el complejo entrecruzamiento de los procesos estructurales de las reformas neoliberales y la coyuntura de la política de seguridad de la «Guerra contra el narcotráfico» iniciada a finales de 2006.
En este libro nos proponemos estudiar la formación de estos grupos defensivos, a través de elucidar diversas experiencias en Guerrero y Michoacán,  donde el fenómeno de la defensa comunitaria adquirió un carácter masivo. Los capítulos de este libro presentan un panorama de los diversos grupos defensivos, permitiendo el entendimiento de sus especificidades y su heterogeneidad. El fenómeno de la defensa comunitaria en México se nos presenta como un área conceptual para observar dinámicas contemporáneas que subvierten nuestras tradicionales conceptualizaciones sobre el poder, el Estado, el capitalismo y las resistencias a la dominación.

This paper will be an analysis of the Freikorps movement and the motivations
behind joining it. It analyzes motivations for joining by looking at the situation of
the Weimar Republic from the end of the first World War November 1918- to the
Kapp Putsch in 1920. The paper will start out with an extensive research discussion
discussing the validity of the research done on the radicalization in the early
Weimar Republic. It will make use of statistics and analysis made by scholars such
as Richard Bessel, Robert G. L Waite and George L. Mosse. It will also be discussing
the validity of the Brutalization Thesis, and whether or not just aby joining a
Freikorps indicated that people had been radicalized. The paper concludes that
while there were some radicalized individuals from the start, mainly the veteran
officers’ corps, they were in the vast minority, as most of the people that joined
did not even see combat.
Keywords:
- Brutalization- Weimar- Radicalization- Research Discussion-

During and after Ukraine’s celebrated Euromaydan (literally: European Square) Revolution of 2013–2014, a whole number of novel Ukrainian political and societal phenomena emerged. One of the most intriguing was the relatively spontaneous and government-supported emergence of volunteer armed units from late spring 2014 onwards, in connection with the start of Russia’s covert paramilitary intervention in Eastern Ukraine. Among the most widely noted of these initially irregular detachments was the “Azov” battalion or regiment, named after the Azov Sea, created, in May 2014, by an obscure lunatic fringe group of racist activists. This paper briefly sketches the origins of Azov, biographies of some of its founders, and particulars of its creation, without touching upon such issues as Azov’s military performance, later integration into the National Guard under Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior, and political development after 2014.

This study of the origins of the Heimwehr (Home Guard) movement offers insight into the conditions under which such groups gained their following. As such, its story is a valuable one that shows a society groping with the problem of a complex, multi-faceted identity that was, at the same time, wracked with substantial economic privation and politically polarized. The paramilitary Heimwehr movement that began in 1920 was the creation of Austria’s conservative provincial governments. It was intended to preserve the existing social and political order—that of the hegemonic social groups of the Habsburg Monarchy—against the growing threat of Marxist revolution, embodied by the Social Democratic Party. The movement understood itself as the continuity of the centuries-old, volunteer militia tradition and carried on its rituals and adopted many of its values. In post-Habsburg Austria, the Heimwehren sought to defend their homeland not from any army, but from an ideology—Marxism. With numerous sources—foreign and domestic—of financial, material, and military support, the Heimwehr movement was at
the epicenter of anti-Marxism in Europe and waged an ideological war against the Austrian Social Democratic Party.
 
The movement’s seemingly negative political agenda that extended beyond its aversion toward Marxism has been depicted by historians as indicative the absence of a distinct, overarching sociopolitical outlook. The controversial and misunderstood—even by Heimwehr members themselves—Korneuburg Oath its federal leaders published in May 1930 outlined the agenda of the movement and, when carefully read, reveals the guiding hand of Catholic social thought. The fact that far right circles of Austria’s mainstream conservative parties birthed and reared the Heimwehr movement, differentiated it from the Nazis and Italian fascism, who only later gained mainstream support due to the desperation of the latter.

Indeed, with the recent outpouring of populist, xenophobic nationalism in the United States and Europe, the Heimwehr movement in Austria, among other right-wing paramilitary organizations of Europe’s “Fascist Era” serve as useful, cautionary tales for the present political landscape.

Народное ополчение (милиция, милиционные силы от лат. militia) должно стать краеугольным камнем системы национальной безопасности новой, подлинной украинской Республики.

Миссия народного ополчения (милиционных сил) состоит в том, чтобы защищать интересы и права граждан, созданных ими общин и, шире, всего общества в чрезвычайных ситуациях, когда структуры централизованного государства в силу каких-то причин не в состоянии эти задачи решать.

Такими обстоятельствами могут быть:
• военные действия, стихийные бедствия и другие чрезвычайные ситуации, когда возможности государственных структур оказываются недостаточными и нуждаются в усилении;
• распад и фактическое исчезновение институтов государства в результате чрезвычайных ситуаций;
• целенаправленные посягательства со стороны государства на права и свободы граждан.

В силу своей природы самодеятельного негосударственного автономного и децентрализованного общественного института народное ополчение обладает максимальной устойчивостью к неблагоприятным обстоятельствам. Его невозможно обезглавить, поскольку у него нет управленческой вертикали. Оно маловосприимчиво к недостатку финансовых и прочих ресурсов в силу добровольного и безвозмездного характера участия в нём.

Народное ополчение — это последний резерв народа Украины, на который он может положиться в ситуации, когда у него не осталось больше союзников и друзей. Народное ополчение это и есть народ Украины, организованный и вооружённый, зримое воплощение его, народа, власти и права решать свою судьбу и судьбы своей страны.

El presente trabajo buscará realizar un análisis comparativo entre dos organismos paraestatales y paramilitares: los escuadrones de la muerte salvadoreños –que actuaron en El Salvador, especialmente durante la década de los ‘80- y la Triple A, o Alianza Anticomunista Argentina –cuyo accionar se ubica aproximadamente entre los años 1973 y 1975-.
Estos organismos, se diferenciarán de aquellos grupos represivos formados desde las instituciones del Estado –es decir, las legítimas fuerzas de seguridad- e integrados por efectivos militares, como los Grupos de Tareas argentinos, o el ejército salvadoreño, que librará la guerra civil contra el FMLN.
Pretendidamente espontáneos, los grupos estudiados implementarán acciones regulares o más esporádicas contra el sujeto social construido como el otro: la subversión ; en un contexto de creciente movilización y combatividad de las masas (la Argentina de los ‘70 y El Salvador de los ’80).

Portadown boy Billy Wright is considered to be close to Christ by many in The Province, while most people from The North consider him as the antichrist himself.

But who was he really? Who was the man with bible and gun who considered himself the armed arm of God?

How could someone without further education develop an ideology which was seed in so many people and brought so much interior love and exterior hate as a harvest?

His background, development and ideology have been examined in this research and are presented to the public for review.

У раду се на основу необјављених историјских извора анализирају личност и деловање Страхиње Јањића током Другог светског рата, као и улога Српског Гестапоа, специјалног обавештајно-диверзантског одреда на чијем се челу Јањић налазио. Циљ рада је да додатно расветли историјску улогу Јањића и његовог оружаног одреда, као и да је сагледа у компаративној равни колаборације у Србији 1941–1944. године.

This paper is concerned with the long-term impact of media reporting, moral panics and fear of crime on the punishment of drug users in Northern Ireland and the implications for other jurisdictions. Drug use amongst young people, has been widely reported in the media, resulting in two significant moral panics (1994 ecstasy, 2011 mephedrone). Residual mistrust of the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland has catalysed the emergence of paramilitary policing/ vigilantism as a means of dealing with people’s drug use. Failure by state institutions to extinguish paramilitary violence outright has facilitated the reinvention of vigilante organisations as ‘saviours of the community.’ Consequently, their role as a quasi-police force is valorised. Recently there has been similar media reporting and vigilante violence towards retailers selling legal highs in New Zealand.
Discussing findings from focus groups and interviews carried out in Northern Ireland and New Zealand, this paper will provide insights from Northern Ireland including the implications of such actions for the drug using community.
Keywords: media, moral panics, drugs, fear of crime

This book offers valuable perspectives on the evolution of Colombia’s armed conflict, the war’s changing territoriality, the logic of violence against the civilian population, and the consequences of war and violence for society on a variety of levels. The authors utilize primarily qualitative approaches and conduct their analysis at both the national and sub-national level as well as comparatively with other intra-state wars. Bringing together social scientists from the fields of political science and government, international relations, economics, geography, and criminology, among others, the book accounts for the recent changes of Colombia’s armed conflict.  It is a relevant contribution for scholars and policymakers with an interest in Colombia’s intra-state war, in particular, and, more broadly, in internal conflicts, warfare and violence. Its findings are especially relevant given the ongoing peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the nation’s largest and oldest guerrilla group/Este libro ofrece una valiosa perspectiva sobre la evolución del conflicto armado en Colombia, la territorialidad cambiante de la guerra, la lógica de la violencia contra la población civil, y las consecuencias de la guerra y la paz para diferentes sectores de la sociedad en distintos niveles. Los autores utilizan aproximaciones cualitativas y conducen sus investigaciones al nivel nacional y sub-nacional así como de manera comparada con otras guerras intra-estatales.  Los autores pertenecen a diversas disciplinas de las ciencias sociales como ciencia política, relaciones internacionales, economía, geografía y criminología. El libro en su conjunto da cuenta de los cambios en el conflicto armado en Colombia. Es una contribución relevante para académicos y tomadores de decisiones interesados, en particular, en el conflicto armado colombiano y, en general, en la temática de las guerras intraestatales, la conducción de las mismas y la violencia. Las conclusiones son particularmente relevantes dado el actual proceso de paz entre el gobierno y las FARC.

Eight years after the implementation of Colombia’s Democratic Defense and Security Policy, the military balance seems to favor the State military forces, given their recent success over the political, military, and economic structures of the country’s non-state armed actors. Nevertheless, registered trends between 2008 y 2009 suggest that, in spite of the severe strikes suffered, rebel groups -the FARC in particular-, are not as close to their definitive defeat and rendition as many government officials have claimed . Guerrilla groups avoid direct military contact with the State military forces -it won’t represent a victory for them, given the existing assimetry of forces-, and show themselves as an elusive and diffuse enemy, hard to identify and neutralize. The upward trend in the use of landmines on behalf of the rebel groups jeopardizes the State’s military operations on the ground, without mentioning the humanitarian effects on combatants and non-combatants as well. In this context, it is possible to notice an increase in rebel groups’ activities in 2009. Regarding paramilitaries or self-defense groups, shortly after their demobilization, armed structures strongly linked to the illicit drug market and other illegal activities emerged in different regions of the country. Their presence and modus operandi is closely linked to the upward trend in homicides registered in 2009. In relation to Colombia’s armed conflict in proximity to the country’s international borders, the transborder dynamic represents a military and economic advantage for the rebel groups, and calls for the consolidation of bilateral cooperation mechanisms designed to reduce the borders strategic value  for the rebels and minimize the risk of diplomatic crisis and tensions between Colombia and its neighbors/Transcurridos casi ocho años de la Política de Defensa y Seguridad Democrática (PDSD), el escenario de la confrontación armada se muestra favorable para el Estado colombiano, por cuenta de sus logros recientes sobre las estructuras políticas, militares y económicas de los grupos al margen de la ley. Con todo, las tendencias registradas entre 2008 y 2009 sugieren que, pese a los contundentes golpes recibidos, las organizaciones guerrilleras –en particular las Farc– están lejos de estar arrinconadas y aniquiladas. Así lo evidencia el incremento en su accionar armado en 2009. Los grupos guerrilleros evitan los enfrentamientos directos, pues es poco probable que resulten victoriosos, y se muestran, ante las fuerzas militares, como un enemigo difuso, elusivo y difícil de identificar. Asimismo, la táctica en ascenso de siembra de minas antipersonales compromete las operaciones del Estado en su contra, además de sus efectos humanitarios sobre los combatientes y la población civil. En cuanto a los grupos paramilitares o de autodefensa, con posterioridad al proceso de desmovilización comenzó a ser evidente, en varias regiones del país, la presencia de estructuras armadas, fuertemente vinculadas al narcotráfico y otras actividades delictivas. Su presencia y actuación guarda una estrecha relación con el aumento de la violencia homicida registrado en 2009. Las dinámicas transfronterizas, por su parte, resultan fundamentales en el escenario de guerra colombiano, por las ventajas que representan para la guerrilla en términos militares y económicos. Para Colombia es fundamental consolidar mecanismos de cooperación bilateral que reduzcan la funcionalidad de las fronteras para los grupos irregulares y eviten el deterioro de las relaciones con los países vecinos en el marco del conflicto armado.

aynı yazar, Türk Kaynaklarında Ermeni Soykırımı. Toplu Makaleler 2, çev. Attila Tuygan (İstanbul: Belge, 2005); Edward J. Erickson, Osmanlılar ve Ermeniler. Bir İsyanın ve Karşı Harekâtın Tarihi, çev. İbrahim Türkmen (İstanbul: Timaş Yayınları, 2015); Güenter Lewy, 1915.

En Anatomías del desastre (2017) se ofrece una visión de las violencias que lastiman a México en los últimos años (narcotráfico, delincuencia organizada, militarismo, represión política), sus raíces, sus consecuencias y también un catálogo de lo que se podría hacer para atenderlas.

Місія народного ополчення (міліційних сил) полягає в тому, щоб захищати інтереси й права громадян, створених ними громад і, ширше, всього суспільства в надзвичайних ситуаціях, коли структури централізованої держави з якихось причин не в змозі ці завдання розв’язувати.

Через свою природу самодіяльного недержавного автономного й децентралізованого громадського інституту народне ополчення володіє максимальною стійкістю до несприятливих обставин. Його неможливо обезголовити, оскільки в нього немає управлінської вертикалі. Воно малочутливе  до нестачі фінансових та інших ресурсів унаслідок добровільного й безоплатного характеру участі в ньому.

Народне ополчення – це останній резерв народу України, на який він може покластися в ситуації, коли в нього не залишилося більше союзників і друзів. Народне ополчення це і є народ України, організований і озброєний, зриме втілення його, народу, влади та права вирішувати свою долю й долю своєї країни.

The negotiated peace of 2016 has given hope to many for a new, more inclusive society. The commitment of the elite, which played a crucial role in impeding former peace attempts, is indispensable, as keys are implementation and sustainability. However, implementation remains a challenge, especially in the electoral year of 2018.The examples of the EPL and paramilitaries show that demobilization is not possible without solving the causes of the conflict. 
There will be no success without Colombia making enough effort to enhance the rule of law, expand state control over the whole territory of the country, upgrande the infrastructure, protect human rights and properties, provide prospect and employment for the youth, ensure the proper integration of IDPs, and create a feasible frame for the agriculture. These are the challenges of the ongoing peace process, and this is how problems can turn into a democratic nation-building, in a better and more equal Colombia which can be “un nuevo país para todos”.

Loyalist paramilitaries have been carrying out vigilante attacks since the earliest years of the Troubles. In four of the past six years, they have actually carried out more vigilante attacks than republican paramilitaries. Yet despite this history, virtually nothing has been written about this aspect of paramilitarism in Northern Ireland. This article explores the origins and growth of loyalist vigilantism. The impact of pivotal events such as the 1985 Anglo‐Irish Agreement and the 1994 cease‐fires are discussed. The vigilantism clearly fulfils a number of important functions for the loyalists but it also carries heavy costs. The article examines how the political parties associated with the paramilitaries have struggled to accommodate the vigilante campaigns while attempting to build wider political appeal. The article concludes that despite the political costs, current developments in Northern Ireland appear to favour an intensification rather than a diminution of loyalist vigilantism.

Geçmişten Günümüze Türkiye’de Paramiliter Bir Yapılanma: Köy Koruculuğu Sistemi başlıklı araştırmada, Türkiye’de devletin, sivil vatandaşları silahlandırarak “devlet yanlısı” ve “devlet düşmanı” olarak kamplaştırma araçlarından biri olan köy koruculuğu sistemi, tarihsel ve sosyal bir bağlam içerisine yerleştirilerek inceleniyor. Bu çalışma, Geç Osmanlı paramiliter yapılanması olan Hamidiye Alayları ile 1985’ten bugüne sürdürülen “çağdaş” köy koruculuğu arasındaki sürekliliğin arka planını aydınlatıyor. Köy koruculuğunu yaklaşık 30 yıl boyunca hem izale edilmesi gereken iltihaplı bir yara hem de hükümetin başına geçildiğinde varlığı sürdürülecek bir silahlı güç olarak kabullenmek, farklı siyasal iktidar odaklarının ortak paydası oldu. Bu ikili tutumun ardındaki saiklerin izini, araştırmamızın  Meclis tutanakları ve basın organlarına dayalı bölümünde sürüyoruz.
Bu araştırmada göreceksiniz ki; koruculuk sistemi, sadece bir iktidar aracı, Kürt Toplumunu kamplaştırma aygıtı ya da silahlı bir suç dünyası değil, aynı zamanda bir toplumsal sorun, bir insani yıkım deneyimi.  İlk kez bu denli geniş bir kapsamda yürütülen; korucular, eşleri ve çocukları ile kendi köylerinde yapılan görüşmelere dayanan bu saha çalışması, koruculuğa gönüllü başlayanlarla zor kullanılarak ya da farklı nedenlerle de olsa “mecburiyet” yüzünden korucu olan köylüler arasında koruculuk sistemi, devlet, PKK, Kürt kimliği ve bu sistem içindeki kendi rolleri gibi konularda, oldukça geniş bir yelpazede farklı bakış açılarının olduğunu ortaya koyuyor.
Araştırma, köy koruculuğu sistemini, ıslah edilebilecek bir kurum olarak değil, silahsız ve çatışmasız bir sürece geçerken, adalet arayışı ve sosyal güvence gibi mekanizmalarla sonlandırılması gereken bir aygıt olarak ele alıyor. Bu yüzden farklı ülkelerdeki paramiliter yapıların hangi hukuksal, siyasal ve toplumsal önlemlerle tasfiye edildiklerine ilişkin bir bölüm de içeriyor.

On July 15, 1928 the gendarmerie arrested 16 men in the small town of Paramithia in Epirus northwestern Greece. They were charged with racketeering, murder, kidnap, extortion and electoral fraud. The news was soon hailed by the local and national press as a major blow against "this mafia without whose approval no contract could be signed, no deal could take place." 1 However, these men were not ordinary hoodlums. Two of the gang members owned more than 1,000 acres, three others were merchants and all but two of the accused were veterans of the paramilitary bands that fought in the area during the Balkan Wars. Moreover, several of them had deep ties with the local and national political establishment. Harisis Oikonomou, the leader of the gang and president of the local farmer's association and his second in command, Nikolas Kiamos, were the right-hand men of liberal MPs D. Spiropoulos and A. Loules. 2 These ties paid off handsomely; a few days later the prosecutor dropped all charges against Oikonomou and eleven of his associates. This was not an isolated episode. Paramilitaries, brigands and other outlaws were an integral part of the state's security and political apparatuses throughout the interwar period. During his 30-year career, Oikonomou served in the gendarmerie, the Demokratika Tagmata, 3 the special branch of Metaxas security service and the right-wing resistance organization of EDES. The intersection between banditry, politics and paramilitarism has been often seen as a Greek and Balkan aberration. 5 However, while the attitudes and modus operandi of paramilitaries like Oikonomou were rooted in regional culture, these groups were not a local peculiarity. Greek paramilitaries were part of a transnational milieu that came into being during a period of imperial collapse and frantic nationbuilding. According to Ryan Gingeras, "the period between the 1910s and 1920s produced a seismic shift in the development of the contemporary nation-state. As revolution and war weakened the authority of central governments, concomitant surges in poverty, migration and political disorder served to strengthen the political authority of rural gangs and paramilitaries." 6

Existing within a relatively short time frame (2013-2015), the Michoacán Autodefensas (selfdefense groups) are a particularly fruitful case study for analyzing vigilantism. What we find here is an armed movement that was devoted to (re)creating a local order through the practices of investigation, vigilante justice, and classification of the social world. Beyond what it reveals about vigilantism as a “judicial” procedure, and as a desire to return to intimacy (in this case, that of familial and village interknowledge), the example of the self-defense groups suggests that vigilantes do not necessarily have as their mission the eradication of crime. Rather, they may settle for managing it, in particular by making it more legible locally. As such, they are involved in intense struggles for identification and classification.
Their reordering attempts, however, often bring new disorderly possibilities and opacities, as shown by the aporia of the security model implemented by the self-defense groups.

The historiography of the Greek civil war has made significant progress during the past decade, but the origins, role and activities of paramilitaries remain under-researched. Most studies have focused on the period of the 'white terror' and explored the collusion between the state and the paramilitary groups. Although such studies have advanced our understanding of this turbulent period, they have not discussed important issues such as the motivation of the rank and file members, the sociopolitical networks used to recruit and mobilize support and the diverse conditions under which militias emerge. The article will address this lacuna and provide new insights into the origins, development and legacies of paramilitarism.

En este apartado mencionare los rasgos principales del libro "el orangután con sacoleva", para esto, es necesario recapitular la historia colombiana de los últimos tres siglos, puesto que esta, es la fiel testigo del deterioro de la democracia y las masacres del Estado.

El presente trabajo desarrolla una investigación sobre las inversiones en el sector de la palma de aceite realizadas por la empresa italiana Poligrow en Mapiripán (Meta). Desde el punto de vista teórico, el análisis introduce el giro eco-territorial de América Latina en la última década (a partir de las reflexiones de los geógrafos latinoamericanos), y en particular, las resistencias eco territoriales en América Latina en el estudio de los conflictos sociales. En el caso de Colombia, dichos conflictos se presentan de forma particularmente violenta, agudizados por la persistencia de un conflicto armado interno y el fortalecimiento de los grupos contra-insurgentes. Al mismo tiempo, las comunidades indígenas y campesinas han sido afectadas por el deterioro de sus territorios. En efecto, muchos grupos paramilitares, cuya acción y presencia transcienden la lógica de autodefensa, persiguen el acaparamiento de tierras en particular a través de la acumulación por desposesión, atraídos por la oportunidad de nuevos negocios en relación a la retórica del Capitalismo Verde. A la expropiación sigue una estrategia legal para “legalizar” el despojo.

Bu makale, Türk devletinin paramiliter örgütlerinin zaman içindeki dönüşümüne ve bu örgütlerin muhaliflere, özellikle Kürtlere, karşı "kullanışlı" bir araç olarak nasıl kullanıldığına odaklanmaktadır. Paramiliter gruplar, yaklaşık kırk yıldır devam eden Türk devleti ve PKK arasındaki çatışmaların ana aktörlerinden biridir. Bu gruplar, 1980'den beri, özellikle savaşın yoğun olduğu zamanlarda bazen yardımcı kuvvet olarak, bazen de ölüm timlerine dönüşerek, PKK'yi desteklediği düşünülen Kürt sivillere karşı faili meçhul cinayetler, zorla kaybetmeler ve yargısız infazlarda resmi ordu güçlerinin yanında kullanılmışlardır. Yazıda, Türk devlet elitlerinin bu aparatı yalnızca iç siyasette değil, Orta Doğu'da ve Kafkasya'daki çatışmalarda kullandığını hatta devletin bu paramiliter geleneğini Batı Avrupa'ya kadar genişlettiğini tartışacağım.

The article explores the intersection between paramilitary mobilization and nation-building in the area of Thesprotia in northwestern Greece. It does so by examining the activities of the right-wing paramilitaries of EDES (Ethnikos Dimokratikos Ellinikos Sindesmos-National Republican Greek League) between the Axis occupation and the early Cold War period. Studies of nation-building in twentieth-century Europe have adopted a state-centric approach. More recent scholarship has questioned this approach and presented a more nuanced picture of the nation-making process. A significant strand of this scholarship discusses the role of non-state armed actors-bandits, paramilitaries and criminal gangs-in this process. The present article contributes to this literature by focusing on an aspect of paramilitarism that has largely been overlooked in the existing scholarship: governance. The article discusses patterns of paramilitary governance and explores the impact of wartime rule in local institutions and civilian security, as well as the political legacies of paramilitarism.