Militias in Civil Wars

• Author: Stathis N. Kalyvas,Livia Isabella Schubiger,Corinna Jentzsch
• Date: 01 August 2015
• Published date: 01 August 2015
• DOI: 10.1177/0022002715576753
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Militias in Civil Wars

Corinna Jentzsch

1

, Stathis N. Kalyvas

2

,

and Livia Isabella Schubiger

3

Abstract

Militias are an empirical phenomenon that has been overlooked by current research

on civil war. Yet, it is a phenomenon that is crucial for understanding political vio-

lence, civil war, post-conflict politics, and authoritarianism. Militias or paramilitaries

are armed groups that operate alongside regular security forces or work indepen-

dently of the state to shield the local population from insurgents. We review existing

uses of the term, explore the range of empirical manifestations of militias, and

highlight recent findings, including those supplied by the articles in this special issue.

We focus on areas where the recognition of the importance of militias challenges

and complements current theories of civil war. We conclude by introducing a

research agenda advocating the integrated study of militias and rebel groups.

Keywords

civil war, political violence, insurgency, militias, paramilitaries, recruitment, violence

against civilians, armed groups

Most studies tend to approach civil wars as bilateral conflicts, that is, the state on one

side versus the rebels on the opposite side. While recent research has challenged this

view by pointing to extensive fragmentation of the rebel side (Bakke, Cunningham,

and Seymour 2012), researchers have tended to disregard the proliferation of armed

actors that emerge during an armed conflict to fight on behalf of the state and/or

against the rebels. Such ‘‘paramilitaries,’’ ‘‘civil militias,’’ or ‘‘civil defense forces’’

1

Institute of Political Science, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands

2

Department of Political Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

3

Center for Comparative and International Studies, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich,

Switzerland

Corresponding Author:

Corinna Jentzsch, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands.

Email: c.jentzsch@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Journal of Conflict Resolution

2015, Vol. 59(5) 755-769

ªThe Author(s) 2015

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DOI: 10.1177/0022002715576753

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