Armed Groups and Contemporary Conflicts: Challenging the Weberian State

Armed groups operating beyond the state have become the most important actors in most contemporary wars and violent conflicts, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Colombia and Somalia. They come in a dizzying array of forms: some informally linked to the state and state power, others in opposition to the state; some pursuing classic political goals, others primarily predatory and large-scale criminal enterprises. All groups, however, challenge the state’s Weberian monopoly of the legitimate use of force, yet their origins, evolution, violent dynamics, and relations with state power are poorly understood. This interdisciplinary collection includes both conceptual and empirical studies of contemporary armed groups, examining cases in Latin America, Asia and Africa. It brings sociological, political economy, and ethnographic approaches to bear on larger questions including armed groups and the changing nature of warfare, the economic dimensions of their activities, and means of engagement with armed actors. It both broadens and sharpens our understanding of how force and violence are used in today’s contemporary armed conflicts. This book was published as a special issue of Contemporary Security Policy.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. Introduction: The Challenge of Non-State Armed Groups Keith Krause and Jennifer Milliken 2. Non-State Armed Actors, New Imagined Communities, and Shifting Patterns of Sovereignty and Insecurity in the Modern World Diane E. Davis 3. With the State against the State? The Formation of Armed Groups Klaus Schlichte 4. Grasping the Financing and Mobilization Cost of Armed Groups: A New Perspective on Conflict Dynamics Achim Wennmann 5. From Social Movement to Armed Group: A Case Study from Nigeria Jennifer M. Hazen 6. Gangs as Non-State Armed Groups: The Central American Case Dennis Rodgers and Robert Muggah 7. The Role of Non-State Actors in ‘Community-Based Policing’ – An Exploration of the Arbakai (Tribal Police) in South-Eastern Afghanistan Susanne Schmeidl and Masood Karokhail 8. Staging Society: Sources of Loyalty in the Angolan UNITA Teresa Koloma Beck 9. Explaining Patterns of Violence in Collapsed States William Reno 10. The Changing Ownership of War: States, Insurgencies and Technology Aaron Karp

About the Author :
Keith Krause is Professor, and Director of the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Switzerland.