ABSTRACT
Militias working for political sponsors are one type of community-based armed group (CBAG), alongside vigilantes providing security and gangs advancing the self-interest of their members. In situations where the state fails to fulfill its most basic function, CBAGs exercise public authority and claim legitimacy from the community in which they are nested. Despite the considerable power CBAGs wield over communities that have been neglected by the state, little is known about how their legitimacy is affected by the way they treat the civilian population that makes up their community. Drawing on eight months of fieldwork in Kenya and Haiti, this chapter investigates how the use of violence against civilians affects the legitimacy of CBAGs, and how that impact depends on the shifting functions they fulfill on behalf of various stakeholders. It will be argued that CBAGs’ legitimacy within their community depends on whether they advance community interests rather than whether they use violence against civilians in general. Thus, the legitimacy of CBAGs will increase if their use of violence against civilians is seen as increasing community interests, whereas CBAG violence that is seen as contrary to community interests decreases their legitimacy.
