ABSTRACT
While the use of violent means is the key feature of irregular forces, their transformation can proceed in the direction of more or less violence or nonviolence. Three trajectories are noted for Southeast Asian cases: pathway 1, where they retain their violence portfolio but functioning as an alternative, state-subcontracted, or state-amalgamated security provider; pathway 2, as an institutionalized exit from violent enterprise and individual reintegration into society; and pathway 3, which entails the shift to normal politics of the political party, interest group, and elites. The pathways for Southeast Asian irregular forces are shaped by their linkages with communities from which they derive resources and legitimacy, pragmatic connections with the state, and the negotiated conflict settlements that contain provisions for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, and security sector reform. Because they are socially embedded structures, these armed groups are diverse and will likely persist in new forms until state capacity for public security is fully met.
