ABSTRACT
By comparing the cases of local security organised by civil society in Indonesia and Nigeria, this chapter focuses on how civil security is established/maintained in weak states by informal security structures such as militias, neighbourhood-watch groups and vigilante groups. The cases of Indonesia and Nigeria are chosen because both countries suffer from very similar problems related to civil militias. Security in relation to civil society in weak states is frustratingly under researched. The only cases in which academe has dealt with these issues, has been in relation to failed or collapsed states, that is, in states where the disaster has already happened. The chapter describes the historical context underlying the increasing militia violence of contemporary Nigeria and Indonesia. The chapter explores a particular period in a continuum of violent conflict that might lead to the emergence of new wars in Nigeria and Indonesia.
