ABSTRACT
There are four ideal types of privatized violence: criminals, terrorists, warlords and rebels. They share a willingness to use violence in order to attain their objectives. These four ideal types could be classified according to these criteria: Warlords and criminals are guided by economic objectives, terrorists and rebels by political ones. The main target groups of violence exercised by rebels and criminals are other organs of force—official security forces, such as the police and the military, or competing rebel groups and criminal gangs—while terrorists and warlords predominantly direct their use of force against unarmed civilians. The geographic scope of the warlords' and rebels' use of violence is usually limited and aims at the consolidation of control over a certain territory. Warlords and rebels try to replace the state monopoly on the use of force by their own monopoly, while the use of force by terrorists and by organized crime coexists with this state monopoly or rather requires it.
