Paramilitary groups and the state under globalization : political violence, elites, and security

This book examines the phenomenon of paramilitarism across Latin America and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia, offering a nuanced perspective while identifying key patterns in the way paramilitary violence is implicated in processes of capital accumulation, state-building, and the reproduction of social power. Paramilitary violence, a key modality of coercion in the era of globalization, has been pursued by states and dominant classes in the Global South, to reproduce or extend their power over subaltern groups. Paramilitary groups are responsible for atrocities, including extrajudicial executions, disappearances, torture, rape, and forced displacement. The book integrates empirically rich investigations into an emergent theory of political violence, capturing the relationship between parastatal armed actors, capital, and the state. The analysis sheds light on globally relevant phenomena such as the end of the Cold War, the shifting role of US hegemony, and evolving nature of the nation-state. The book is suitable for academics, graduate and upper-year undergraduate students, and policy-makers in development, human rights, and violence prevention. Given its interdisciplinary subject, it appeals to scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including political science, sociology, political anthropology, development, peace and conflict, security and terrorism, international relations, and global studies.

Introduction 1. Theorizing Non-State Armed Actors in the Era of Economic Globalization: Beyond the Criminal and the Terrorist Part One: Paramilitaries and Capital Accumulation 2. The Pro-Business Effects of Paramilitary Terror in Colombia: Appreciating Different Types of Political Violence and Their Economic Impacts 3. Paramilitarism in Progress: The War against Social Movements from Below in Honduras 4. Institutionalized Terror: Paramilitaries and the Guatemalan State 5. Enforcing Accumulation in a Geo-Strategic Region: Paramilitaries in Oaxaca, Mexico Part Two: The Struggle for the State: Paramilitarism as a Strategy of Movements from Above 6. Transnational Paramilitary Connections: Right-wing Violence in Venezuela as a Strategy to Restore Political Hegemony 7. Conquering the Local Level: Connections and Frictions Between Local Governments and Paramilitaries in Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Colombia 8. Shifts in Coercion under Globalization: Lessons from Haiti's Restructuring in the Global Era 9. Landowners, Politicians, and the Threat from Below: Emergence and Evolution of Paramilitary Groups in Chiapas, Mexico Part Three: Paramilitary Actors and State-Building 10. US Support for "Civilian Defence" Paramilitaries in Iraq and Afghanistan 11. Non-State Armed Actors and State-building: The Symbiotic Relationship between Paramilitary Forces and the State in Post-Soviet Georgia (1991-2012) 12. The Violent Roots of the New Elite: Serbian Paramilitaries in the Transition from Socialism to Capitalism Part Four: Variations in Paramilitary Structure and Purpose 13. Disturbing the Peace: Paramilitarism across Southeast Asia 14. Paramilitary Groups and Civilian Self-Defense Force Mobilization in Peru 15. God's Vigilantes: Islamist Paramilitarism in Modern Pakistan Conclusion