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Concerns the issue of what is to be done with paramilitaries and their weapons in post‐settlement scenarios. It argues that Lebanon has lessons in this matter that are relevant for Northern Ireland. Schulze argues that the key to progress is a process that is inclusive of all groups, including the representatives of paramilitary organizations.

This chapter focuses on the Deacons for Defense and its place in the civil rights movement in Mississippi. It examines the role of the Deacons as an option for African Americans who perceived a lack of local or federal government protection for protest efforts. It traces the roots of the Deacons to Louisiana, where they began as a paramilitary group in 1965, and their eventual foray into Mississippi, where they gained new public significance during the James Meredith “March against Fear and Intimidation” in 1966. The chapter explores the tradition of armed resistance in Mississippi and its distinction from paramilitary organizations, along with issues of organizing and self-defense and the multiple strategies employed by the Deacons. It also highlights the role of the Deacons in the Natchez consumer boycott in order to contextualize the group’s political relevance in the communities where they were active.

This chapter briefly outlines the strategies and tactics used by far right parties and focuses on party organizational structure and its relationship to the way parties perform at the polls. Strong, charismatic leaders, centralized organizational structures and efficient mechanisms for enforcing party discipline are likely to bring better performance than is enjoyed by parties with weaker, less-charismatic leadership, less centralized internal structures and lower levels of party discipline. It also focuses on local and pan-European cooperation by far right parties. The greatest cooperation between parties is visible between the mother parties and their branches abroad. The author also examines the ties of paramilitary organizations to the parties of the far right after 2000. The conclusion is that far right parties no longer have their own paramilitary structures. The only exception is the New Right and an alleged relation to the marginal political party PNG-CD in Romania.

This chapter examines Long Kesh/Maze prison within the context of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with particular emphasis on its impact on society. Before contextualising Long Kesh/Maze within its immediate setting and societal context, the chapter explains the role of terminology, categorisation and naming conventions, and their relationship with the prison site. It then considers the nature and impact of external relations on the prison and its inhabitants, especially the relationship between prisoners and external paramilitary organisations. It also discusses the impact of Long Kesh/Maze on Northern Irish politics, economy, media, culture, and social aspects of life.

This chapter examines the rise of paramilitary forces in Paris in 1848. The collapse of the July Monarchy was followed by the emergence of leaders of different political persuasions both inside and outside the Provisional Government. Private armies were soon formed to support or oppose that government. Before discussing the political and military events of that uncertain period, this chapter considers both the composition of the Provisional Government and the various paramilitary organizations that developed in revolutionary Paris. These include the normal or Sedentary National Guard, the Republican Guard, the Garde du Peuple or Montagnards, the Lyonnais, and Vésuviennes.

This chapter describes the community and political conflict in Derry, Northern Ireland. Derry is the second largest urban center in the country, dominated by Catholics. The problem arose when Protestants governing Derry implemented housing policy that corralled most Catholics into one electoral ward in the city. The conflict was resolved through the conflict strategy of paramilitary organizations as well as through effective diplomatic initiatives from England, Ireland, the United States, and the European Union. Several things stand out about the conflict in Derry in relation to sustained dialogue. One of which is that peace would never have been possible without the efforts of leaders in Derry and at the regional Northern Ireland level to build ties between community organizations. This process required leaders from both groups to examine long held personal prejudices and acknowledge the good intentions.

This chapter explores the connections between the perpetrators' consumption of alcohol, their acts of violence, and the use of celebratory ritual as expressions of camaraderie and manifestations of masculinity. It investigates how membership in paramilitary organizations like the SS, the SA, and the police shaped and informed masculinity constructs. The chapter also discusses how the relationship between alcohol, martial identity, and entry into manhood was anchored in “leave-taking rituals.” The glorification of martial virtues and violence as “the highest manifestation of manhood” emerged as defining characteristics of the National Socialist ideal of hypermasculinity, especially within the SS and the police complex. For this reason, the chapter highlights the linkage between hypermasculinity and militarism. It analyses the concept of martial masculinity or an exaggerated belief in the necessity for merciless brutality against one's enemies, and it defines the concept of radicalized hypermasculinity by the practice of racial war. Ultimately, the chapter discusses the importance of masculinity as a cultural ideal within political and social organizations.

This chapter describes how Cyril Valentine Briggs joined a group of black Socialists in Harlem to establish the African Blood Brotherhood for African Liberation and Redemption (ABB). They fashioned themselves as a secret paramilitary organization but in fact functioned as a group of activist-intellectuals intent on guiding the black freedom movement toward a pan-Africanist proletarian revolution. They believed that they would achieve nothing less than liberating Africa, ending colonialism and racial oppression, and contributing to the cause of freedom everywhere. As a national organization, the ABB could hardly compare in size and reach to its more notable contemporaries, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association.

From 1943 to 1945, many nacionalistas saw Peronism as representing exactly what all nacionalistas had wanted: a strong antiliberal movement with a strong military leader and an astonishing new feature, namely a working-class base. From 1946 to1955 many of them became wary of the idiosyncrasies of Perón’s brand of populism. Once the Peronist regime was gone, two neofascist organizations emerged: Tacuara and the Triple A. They shared many members, an extreme anti-Semitism, and terrorist forms of political violence. The two groups also shared a close relationship with the security forces and the army, as well as connections to the “hard-core“ sectors of Peronist trade unionism. As Tacuara had done before, the Triple A operated in a gray zone located somewhere between radical politics and mere criminality.

This chapter evaluates the significance of ritual and symbolism to the construction and manifestation of power under National Socialism. It underlines the importance of practices such as the mammoth party rallies at Nuremberg, the universal displays of the swastika on flags, pins, and armbands and the ubiquitous use of “Heil Hitler” as the standard greeting of the Third Reich under the Nazi regime. The chapter also contends that the creation of Nazi power was accomplished in no small measure by the use of ritual, and, in fact, ritual in the Third Reich served as an expression of “social power” that extended into virtually all aspects of German society. These celebratory events of Nazi power involved daily acts of verbal or physical humiliation of Jews, communists, and socialists, as well as organized and exemplary episodes of abusive behavior. Ultimately, the chapter studies the symbiotic relationship between violence, competition, and male comradeship and how it became manifest in the actions, rituals, and celebratory practices of Nazi paramilitary organizations through acts of humiliation by SS and policemen on the streets, in the concentration camps, and in the killing fields.