ABSTRACT
Militia affiliations and actions are garnering increased attention from conflict scholars. An active area of inquiry concerns the role, composition, and function of “pro-government militias” (PGMs) and specifically how to distinguish the roles these groups play compared to existing state security forces and other active militias. In our examination of the “militia universe” and its variations, this chapter will make three points about militias which are closely affiliated with the state, government, and regimes of unstable states. Our perspective comes from our extensive and global examination of militias across all political contexts, within which those affiliated with components and representatives of the state are a substantial subcategory. Our first point is that the discussion on pro-government affiliations can be overly blunt, in part because of a failure to adequately disaggregate the components of formal state authority in unstable countries. Our second point is that regimes and elites are responsive to the political competition, fractures, pressures, supports, and variation from within that circle of power. Our third point is that PRMs are part of a larger cycle of political violence; states are often home to multiple militias, and each group has a specific objective, scope, activity space, composition, patron, or directive in line with the elite, party, and authority competition noted earlier.
