ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses paramilitary formations in relation to local governance in North-Eastern Colombia, Northern Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Drawing on the concepts of local governance and the role of the local state in conflict situations, I offer several considerations on the role of local actors in instigating, utilizing, or cooperating with paramilitaries. Three patterns of paramilitary involvement in local government, ranging from lower to higher levels of intensity, will be illustrated. The case of Northern Uganda demonstrates a pattern of utilization of paramilitary forces in the war against a rebel group, with the local government mandated to create such forces. In the case of Zimbabwe, we see the use of paramilitary groups to secure political hegemony, with the local government being an instrument of political repression forced to coexist with paramilitary groups. Finally, the case of North-Eastern Colombia represents the extreme form of paramilitary invasion of local and regional governments with the purpose of securing political hegemony and economic opportunities of elites at the local level, with the outcome of a systemic collaboration between politicians and paramilitaries.
