ABSTRACT
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.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter Chapter 1|21 pages
Theorizing non-state armed actors in the era of economic globalization
part one|74 pages
Paramilitaries and capital accumulation
chapter Chapter 2|18 pages
The pro-business effects of paramilitary terror in Colombia
chapter Chapter 3|18 pages
Paramilitarism in progress
chapter Chapter 5|19 pages
Enforcing accumulation in a geo-strategic region
part two|73 pages
The struggle for the state
chapter Chapter 6|19 pages
Transnational paramilitary connections
chapter Chapter 7|18 pages
Conquering the local level
chapter Chapter 8|17 pages
Shifts in coercion under globalization
chapter Chapter 9|17 pages
Landowners, politicians, and the threat from below
part three|51 pages
Paramilitary actors and state-building
chapter Chapter 11|15 pages
Non-state armed actors and state-building
chapter Chapter 12|16 pages
The violent roots of the new elite
part four|65 pages
Variations in paramilitary structure and purpose