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A paramilitary is a force or unit that functions and is organized in a manner analogous to a military force, but does not have professional or legitimate status.[1] The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934.[2] It has been used by many different political organization especially far-right politics groups and by many different organizations.[3] Paramilitaries have widely been synonymous with violence, political repression, ethnic cleansing, genocide and crimes against humanity.[4] Paramilitaries may use combat-capable kit/equipment (such as internal security/SWAT vehicles), or even actual military equipment (such as armored personnel carriers;[citation needed] usually military surplus resources) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such as law enforcement, coast guard, or search and rescue.[citation needed] A paramilitary may fall under the command of a military, train alongside them, or have permission to use their resources, despite not actually being part of them.[5]
Legality
Under the law of war, a state may incorporate a paramilitary organization or armed agency (such as a law enforcement agency or a private volunteer militia) into its combatant armed forces. Some countries' constitutions prohibit paramilitary organizations outside government use.
Types
Depending on the definition adopted, "paramilitaries" may include:
Military organizations
- Private military contractors and mercenaries
- Irregular military forces, such as militias, partisans, resistance movements, freedom fighters, rebel groups, liberation armies, guerrilla armies, militants, insurgents, and terrorist groups.
- State-parallel armed groups such as the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces [6]
Law enforcement
- Semi-militarized law enforcement units within civilian police, such as police tactical units, SWAT, Emergency Service Units, and incident response teams
- Gendarmeries, such as the French National Gendarmerie, Chinese People's Armed Police, Dutch Royal Marechaussee, Egyptian Central Security Forces, European EUROGENDFOR, Turkic TAKM, and Chilean Carabineros de Chile
- Border guards, such as the U.S. Border Patrol, Australian Border Force, Indian Border Security Force, Bangladeshi Border Guard Bangladesh, and Turkish village guards
- Security forces of ambiguous military status, such as internal troops, railroad guard corps, and railway troops
- Branches of government agencies such as intelligence agencies tasked with law enforcement, tactical support, or security operations, such as the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Center and Global Response Staff, or the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Protective Forces
Civil defense
Political
- Armed, semi-militarized wings of political parties and similar political organizations, such as the German Sturmabteilung and Italian Blackshirts.
Examples of paramilitary units
See also
- Category:Rebel militia groups
- Militia
- International Association of Gendarmeries and Police Forces with Military Status
- List of Serbian paramilitary formations
- Militarization of police
- Police tactical unit
- Fourth-generation warfare
- Violent non-state actor
- Military urbanism
- Private army
- Fascist paramilitary
- Guerrilla warfare
- List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel
- List of paramilitary organizations
- Bangladesh Ansar
- Border Security Force
References
- ^ "paramilitary". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. June 2011 [online edition; original published in June 2005]. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
Designating, of, or relating to a force or unit whose function and organization are analogous or ancillary to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having professional or legitimate status.
- ^ "paramilitary". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Doxsee, Catrina (August 12, 2025). "Examining Extremism: The Militia Movement". Center for Strategic and International Studies.
- ^ Dasgputa, Sunil (April 6, 2003). "Paramilitaries on the March". Brookings.
- ^ Böhmelt, Tobias; Clayton, Govinda (February 2018). "Auxiliary Force Structure: Paramilitary Forces and Progovernment Militias". Comparative Political Studies. 51 (2): 197–237. doi:10.1177/0010414017699204. hdl:10654/38817. ISSN 0010-4140.
- ^ Aliyev, Huseyn (2016). "Strong militias, weak states and armed violence: towards a theory of 'state-parallel' paramilitaries" (PDF). Security Dialogue. 47 (6): 498–516. doi:10.1177/0967010616669900.
Further reading
- Golkar, Saeid. (2012) Paramilitarization of the Economy: the Case of Iran's Basij Militia, Armed Forces & Society, Vol. 38, No. 4
- Golkar, Saeid. (2012). Organization of the Oppressed or Organization for Oppressing: Analysing the Role of the Basij Militia of Iran. Politics, Religion & Ideology, Dec., 37–41. doi:10.1080/21567689.2012.725661
- Üngör, Uğur Ümit (2020). Paramilitarism: Mass Violence in the Shadow of the State. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-882524-1.
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