Pragmatic and Promiscuous
Explaining the Rise of Competitive Political Militias across Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6284501 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Clionadh Raleigh (0000-0003-3047-0815, University of Sussex, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 283-310 |
| Publication date | 2016-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022002714540472 |
| OpenAlex | W2085767964 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 39 |
| References cited | 55 |
Across African states, militias have become one of the main agents of political violence, accounting for a third of all recent conflict. Militia violence is attributed to cultural reactions to disorder, failing and predatory states, and local cleavages which emerge during civil wars. However, activity largely occurs in democratizing states without civil wars. This article presents a typology of militias based on their local roles and actions and an explanation for the prevalence of “competition militias.” Changes in macro politics ushered in a new era of conflict and fragmentation among political elites; militias operate as private armies for these elites. The goal of this violence is to alter the political landscape, increase power for patrons, protect supportive communities, and hinder opponents. Incentives within African democratic institutions reward the use of force by elites. As a result, African democracies, and states transitioning into democracy, are not likely to be internally peaceful. Futhermore, the dominant type of conflict across African states shifts to accommodate the goals of violent agents within modern political contexts
Civil Conflict · Competition (biology · Democracy · Development economics · Economics · Incentive · Internal conflict · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Typology · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East
Political hierarchies and landscapes of conflict across Africa
Militias as a Tool for Encouraging Ethnic Defection
Pro-Government Militias
Politicising violent gangs in selected Southern African countries
Conflict's impacts on food systems
The Social and Political Life of Latin American Infrastructures
Governance Interrupted
Delegation, Sponsorship, and Autonomy
Actor proliferation and the fragmentation of violent groups in conflict
The political process of Boko Haram insurgency onset
No safety in numbers
The Power of Appointment
Post-Conflict Regimes and the Survival of Pro-Government Militias
When armed groups refuse to carry out election violence
Conflict Dynamics and Feedback
Introducing the African Relational Pro-Government Militia Dataset (RPGMD)
Inclusive conflict? Competitive clientelism and the rise of political violence
Incumbent Responses to Armed Groups in Nigeria and Kenya
Spoiling the Broth? The Impact of Militia Violence on Peace Negotiations
Terminologically obscured, politically empowered
Contentious cities? Urban growth and electoral violence in Africa
Security Consolidation in the Aftermath of Civil War
Land and State Capacity During Civil Wars
The Ties That Bind
The Puzzle of Militia Containment in Civil War
The geography of regime support and political violence
Auxiliary Force Structure
Progovernment Militias
Complicit States and the Governing Strategy of Privilege Violence
Protection or predation? Understanding the behavior of community-created self-defense militias during civil wars
Between the Cracks
The Spatial Conflict Life Cycle in Africa
Electoral violence and the legacy of authoritarian rule in Kenya and Zambia
(Re)Emerging disease and conflict risk in Africa, 1997-2019
Electoral violence
Renting political violence
Policing men
Governing the economy
Where the wild things are not
Africa works
Civil Militia
When Things Fell Apart
The Architecture of Government
Political Topographies of the African State
Warlord Politics and African States
Local Violence, National Peace? Postwar “Settlement” in the Eastern D.R. Congo (2003–2006)
The Trouble with the Congo
The Logic of Violence in Civil War
The Politics of Collective Violence
Neopatrimonialism Reconsidered
How Do Ethnic Militias Perpetuate in Nigeria? A Micro-level Perspective on the Oodua People’s Congress
Violence Against Civilians
Ethnic diversity and economic development
Power elites, war and postwar reconstruction in Africa
People vs. Malthus
The politics of displacement in multiparty Kenya
The Benefits of Ethnic War
National Design and State Building in Sub-Saharan Africa
Democratization by Elections? Opposition Weakness in Africa
On the Incidence of Civil War in Africa
Dominant Forms of Conflict in Changing Political Systems
Decentralization
Protest and Rebellion in Africa
Measuring Ethnic Fractionalization in Africa
Electoral Populism Where Property Rights Are Weak
Democratization, sequencing, and state failure in Africa
It's sheer horror here
Power to Uhuru
The meaning of a militia
The end of the post-colonial state in Africa? Reflections on changing African political dynamics
Mercenaries of democracy
Facing Mount Kenya or Facing Mecca? The Mungiki, ethnic violence and the politics of the Moi succession in Kenya, 1987-2002
Fighting words
The worldwide governance indicators
What Is Civil War
Hijacking civil society
The Bakassi Boys
Bargaining, Fear, and Denial
Armed Conflict 1946-2001
Whither the weather? Climate change and conflict
Introducing Acled
Tax Me If You Can
Mission without end? Peacekeeping in the African political marketplace
Ritual and Political Forms of Violent Practice among the Suri of Southern Ethiopia
Neither Soft nor Dead
Violence and the Crisis of Conciliation
The Political Economy of Kenya's Crisis
| Unique citing works | 39 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,25 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2026 (13) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 37 |