Militia Movements in Africa: A Conceptual Examination and Reformulation

Abstract

What are militia movements and how do they emerge onto the socio-political scene? This question is not treated well in the literature. Thus, the concept 'militia movement/group' remains narrowly construed and ambiguous. Actors involved, interests served, and relationships between militias, society and state, are not well articulated. I re-conceptualize militias by developing two models and operational measures relating to their fluidity, complexity, processes, terms and dynamics surrounding their formation; and map these on continua based on degrees of legitimacy and extent of actors’ agency. Varying degrees of legitimacy: illegitimate; quasi-legitimate; legitimizing; and legitimate and varying extents of agency: coerced; cajoled; manipulated; and agentic, are mapped and explicated. However, even these models are not sufficient to fully grasp the complexity of militias. I conclude by underscoring the need for further interrogation of militias focusing on their properties or attributes. Interrogating properties has potential to reveal not only their essence , but also a melange of issues associated with them.