Securitisation and militias during civil war in Peru

Abstract

The article analyses the effects of the rhetoric and politics of security on everyday lives in indigenous communities during civil war in Peru, 1980–1995. The article draws attention to the rise of accidental killings, intra- and inter-communal rivalry and violence, and the long-term disruption of traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution as direct effects of the operationalisation of threat as the basis for recruitment of rondas campesinas, peasant self-defence groups, in counter-insurgency operations against Sendero Luminoso. The article utilises the analysis of the effects of securitisation in the Peruvian case to reflect broadly on academic debates on counter-insurgency (COIN), non-state armed actors and subnational dynamics during violent conflict. In particular, the co-optation of local militias is critically discussed from a principal-agent dilemma perspective. While local proxies are useful for defeating insurgent groups, once given autonomy in material (i.e. arms) and immaterial (i.e. legitimacy) ways these forces can get out of (state) hand.