Paramilitary Groups Research Articles

MILITARY EDUCATION OF UKRAINIAN YOUTH OF GALICIA IN PLASTUN CIRCLES BEFORE THE FIRST WORLD WAR

The article examines the military education of Ukrainian youth in Galicia before the First World War. The main emphasis in the study was given to Ukrainian plastun organizations. The first national military formations were created on the example of these paramilitary groups, which organized and trained Ukrainian youth to fight for national interests during the First World War. Members of the societies became the basis of the first armed Ukrainian formation of the 20th century – the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. It should be noted that the idea of military training of young people was not positively received by the entire Galician society, part of which was against military methods of struggle. So, since its inception, the first important period in the history of Plast fell on the three pre-war years. It was testified that the Scout idea found fertile ground on Ukrainian soil. It was emphasized that due to the peculiarities of historical development, Plast took deeper roots only in Galicia. It was determined that from the time of its creation and the closer the time was to the war, the more stages of militarization of Plast there were. It is highlighted that before the war, Plast movement was mainly viewed as a military preparatory factor. At the same time, its essence was determined by the fact that the nation could win victory for statehood only by force of arms. Continuing the topic of the place and role of Plast in Ukrainian society, we note that, according to its ideological and worldview guidelines, the formation of not only people of a new generation, but also people's leaders, the national elite was foreseen. For this, Plast had to raise an energetic person with a willful character and a deep sense of national dignity. It was emphasized that one of the tasks of Plast was to reach the consciousness of the entire Ukrainian nation through educated youth and to awaken its own identity in it, and it was concluded that the deep intention of Plast was to subordinate all the activities of its members to the needs of the Ukrainian nation. So, let's summarize that the ultimate goal of the Plastun circles was the only one – the acquisition of their own state. The examination of the topic in the context of military-historical and memoir literature was traced, in which scientific materials were found on the role of Plast members in ideological, organizational and military education. Keywords: Plast, Galicia, military school, the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, youth organizations.

Civil resistance against military dictatorships: People power in Bolivia

Civil resistance has had a crucial role in promoting social, political, and economic change throughout the world. During the period of dictatorships in South America, civil resistance through the use of nonviolent methods was implemented by Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo) to address human rights violations, which eventually led to campaigns to demand democracy in Argentina. The military dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile also fell to the nonviolent campaigns and people power movements. Bolivia presents another case on the effectiveness of civil resistance against not only military dictatorships but also to demand the comeback of democracy. This article examines how civil resistance was implemented in Bolivia during the period of military dictatorships from 1964 to 1982. Once in power, the military dictatorships began to target workers and their union leaders, student organizations and leftist politicians driving them underground and into exile. State violence was used to repress opposition groups from all sectors and even the press. Security forces to include paramilitary groups were behind a series of kidnappings, tortures and killing of activists. To curb the state violence, union workers, miners, indigenous/campesino group, political leaders, and university students began a series of coordinated nonviolent methods, such as hunger strikes, road blockades, mass protests and marches. This article describes the benefits and outcomes of civil resistance showing how these nonviolent techniques and strategies were used to fight against military dictatorships and led the country back onto the path of re-democratization.

Is It Time to De-Proscribe Terrorist Organisations in Northern Ireland?

ABSTRACT In 2017 an application to de-proscribe The Red Hand Commando (RHC) loyalist paramilitary organisation was submitted by an organisation known as the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) which has the backing of other proscribed loyalist groups including the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and RHC. The application was understandably considered negatively by some relatives of RHC victims as well as by Sinn Féin. The application was rejected for failing to comply with the necessary process of de-proscription which reinforces the criticism and difficulty for proscribed organisations that are no longer engaged in terrorism to de-proscribe. If the Northern Ireland Assembly and Commissions set up in Northern Ireland (NI) following the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) with support from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) are to dismantle paramilitary groups, then they must take bold decisions and decide whether it is time to support the de-proscription of paramilitary groups that have relinquished political violence. This article recommends that agencies should set out a staged process which can be followed by proscribed organisations in NI interested in applying for de-proscription thereby enabling them to self-evaluate whether or not they are ready for de-proscription.

Rebel Primary Commodity Markets, Price Shocks, and Supplier Victimization

AbstractRebel organizations often benefit from the sale of primary commodities. However, producing these commodities may require labor from noncombatants. Rebels provide security and payment to civilian suppliers, but their ability to do so depends on consistent profits. How, then, do price shocks to labor-intensive primary commodities undermine rebel–supplier relationships? I hypothesize that negative commodity price shocks lead cash-strapped rebels to ensure suppliers’ loyalty by substituting coercion for positive incentives. Conversely, states seek to limit rapid increases in rebels’ profit while avoiding the reputational costs of civilian victimization. Thus, victimization of rebel suppliers from groups such as pro-government paramilitaries is hypothesized to increase after positive commodity price shocks. I test these hypotheses with a new dataset covering 1999–2007 that combines monthly US STRIDE (System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence) data on cocaine price with municipal-level data from the Colombian Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica about the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) and paramilitary groups’ use of civilian victimization.

Legacies of Wartime Order: Punishment Attacks and Social Control in Northern Ireland

Many armed groups create informal institutions to maintain social order during conflict. The remnants of these informal institutions form a key challenge for governments in postconflict societies in their attempts to reestablish themselves as credible state authorities. The persistence of paramilitary groups’ informal “justice” systems in the form of so-called punishment attacks in Northern Ireland, more than twenty years on from the Good Friday Agreement, offers insights into the legacy of wartime institutions. We argue that armed actors can benefit from the social control wartime institutions grant them long after the conflict ends and both armed actors and civilians are socialized into relying on these institutions. Building on research on wartime institutions, criminal governance, and postwar state-building, we examine how the informal “justice” systems created during the Troubles (1968–98) remain at the fringes of postwar society, drawing on historical works, interviews with stakeholders, geocoded data on “punishment attacks,” and survey data.

THE BOMB ATTACK IN CSONGRÁD. A CASE STUDY OF RADICAL RIGHT-WING PARAMILITARISM AND POLITICAL TERRORISM IN HUNGARY IN THE 1920s

In the 1920s, paramilitary violence was an almost natural phenomenon in Hungary, like in many other countries of Central Europe. After the Great War and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the new right-wing government, establishing its power with the help of the Entente powers, could difficulty rule the quasi anarchistic conditions. In 1920–1921, Hungary was terrorized by irregular military formations that were formally part of the National Army, and radical right-wing soldiers committed serious crimes frequently by anti-Semitic motivations. Although paramilitary violence ceased in 1921, the militia movement lived on in the form of secret paramilitary organisations. The government used up these units, since the right-wing elite was afraid of another communist takeover, using them as auxiliary police forces, and they also wanted to circumvent the limitations of armament of the Treaty of Trianon, also aiming to cooperate with Austrian and German radical-right paramilitary groups including Hitler’s National Socialist movement as well. Irregular soldiers became concerned in political terrorism, several bomb outrages. Although the police did its best to investigate the cases, most perpetrators interestingly were not sent into prison. The age of the bomb raids, as the press of the opposition called this period, finally ended with the fact that murderous, anti-Semitic terrorists remained at large, and found their places in the authoritarian conservative regime of Hungary of the 1920s. The research article reconstructs certain terroristic crimes committed by the members of irregular military formations via a micro-historical case study, analysing the bomb attack in Csongrad, December 1923, based on archival records of criminal suits. Furthermore, beyond the analysis of the individual cases of three different, but interrelating bomb outrages, it intends to draw general conclusions about the controversial and complex relationship between the early Hungarian paramilitary radical right-wing movements and the government, considering that several paramilitary commanders operated as influential radical right-wing politicians as well. Keywords: political terrorism, anti-Semitism, paramilitary violence, radical right-wing movements, Hungarian political history.

CONSOLIDATION WITH GRENADES, THAT IS, THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT IN JÁSZKARAJENŐ, 1922 A CHAPTER OF POLITICAL TERRORISM IN HUNGARY

In the 1920s, paramilitary violence was an almost natural phenomenon in Hungary, like in many other countries of Central Europe. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the new right-wing government, establishing its power with the help of the Entente powers, could difficulty rule the quasi anarchistic conditions. In 1920–1921, Hungary was terrorized by irregular military formations that were formally part of the National Army, and radical right-wing soldiers committed serious crimes frequently by anti-Semitic motivations. Although paramilitary violence ceased in 1921, the militia movement lived on in the form of secret paramilitary organisations. The government used up these units, since the right-wing elite was afraid of another communist takeover, using them as auxiliary police forces, and they also wanted to circumvent the limitations of armament of the Treaty of Trianon, also aiming to cooperate with Austrian and German radical-right paramilitary groups including Hitler’s National Socialist movement as well. Irregular soldiers became concerned in political terrorism, several bomb outrages. Although the police did its best to investigate the cases, most perpetrators interestingly were not sent into prison. The age of the bomb raids, as the press of the opposition called this period, finally ended with the fact that murderous, anti-Semitic terrorists remained at large, and found their places in the authoritarian conservative regime of Hungary of the 1920s. The article reconstructs certain terroristic crimes committed by the members of irregular military formations, mainly the fortunately prevented grenade assassination plan of Jaszkarajenő via a micro-historical case study, based on archival records of criminal suits. Furthermore, beyond the analysis of the individual cases of three different, but interrelating bomb outrages, it intends to draw general conclusions about the controversial and complex relationship between the early Hungarian paramilitary radical right-wing movements and the government, considering that several paramilitary commanders operated as influential radical right-wing politicians as well. Keywords: political terrorism, anti-Semitism, paramilitary violence, radical right-wing movements, Hungarian political history.

THE BOMB OUTRAGE IN ERZSÉBETVÁROS ― AN ACTION OF POLITICAL TERRORISM IN HUNGARY, 1922

In the 1920s, paramilitary violence was an almost natural phenomenon in Hungary, like in many other countries of Central Europe. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the new right-wing government, establishing its power with the help of the Entente powers, could difficulty rule the quasi anarchistic conditions. In 1920–1921, Hungary was terrorized by irregular military formations that were formally part of the National Army, and radical right-wing soldiers committed serious crimes frequently by anti-Semitic motivations. Although paramilitary violence ceased in 1921, the militia movement lived on in the form of secret paramilitary organizations. The government used up these units, since the right-wing elite was afraid of another Communist takeover, using them as auxiliary police forces, and they also wanted to circumvent the limitations of armament of the Treaty of Trianon, also aiming to cooperate with Austrian and German radical-right paramilitary groups including Hitler’s National Socialist movement as well. Irregular soldiers became concerned in political terrorism, the bomb outrage of Erzsebetvaros that required 8 casualties on 2 April 1922. Although the police did its best to investigate the cases, most perpetrators interestingly were not sent into prison. The age of the bomb raids, as the press of the opposition called this period, finally ended with the fact that murderous, anti-Semitic terrorists remained at large, and found their places in the authoritarian conservative regime of Hungary of the 1920s. The article reconstructs certain terroristic crimes committed by the members of irregular military formations via a micro-historical case study, based on archival records of criminal suits. Furthermore, beyond the analysis of the individual cases of three different, but interrelating bomb outrages, it intends to draw general conclusions about the controversial and complex relationship between the early Hungarian paramilitary radical right-wing movements and the government, considering that several paramilitary commanders operated as influential radical right-wing politicians as well. Keywords: radical right-wing organisations, terrorism, antisemitism, paramilitarism, history of justice.

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In the 1920s, paramilitary violence was an almost natural phenomenon in Hungary, like in many other countries of Central Europe. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the new right-wing government, establishing its power with the help of the Entente powers, could difficulty rule the quasi anarchistic conditions. In 1920–1921, Hungary was terrorized by irregular military formations that were formally part of the National Army, and radical right-wing soldiers committed serious crimes frequently by anti-Semitic motivations. Although paramilitary violence ceased in 1921, the militia movement lived on in the form of secret paramilitary organizations. The government used up these units, since the right-wing elite was afraid of another communist takeover, using them as auxiliary police forces, and they also wanted to circumvent the limitations of armament of the Treaty of Trianon, also aiming to cooperate with Austrian and German radical-right paramilitary groups including Hitler’s National Socialist movement as well. Irregular soldiers became concerned in political terrorism, several bomb outrages. Although the police did its best to investigate the cases, most perpetrators interestingly were not sent into prison. The age of the bomb raids, as the press of the opposition called this period, finally ended with the fact that murderous, anti-Semitic terrorists remained at large, and found their places in the authoritarian conservative regime of Hungary of the 1920s. The article, as an extract of a long monograph published in Hungarian by the author, briefly reconstructs certain political crimes committed by the members of irregular military formations based on archival records of criminal suits. Furthermore, beyond the analysis of the individual cases of three different, but interrelating bomb outrages, it intends to draw general conclusions about the controversial and complex relationship between the early Hungarian paramilitary radical right-wing movements and the government, considering that several paramilitary commanders operated as influential radical right-wing politicians as well.

PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MODEL OF FORMATION OF CADETS' READINESS TO ENSURE INFORMATION SECURITY IN PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

The mass introduction of information technologies in the activities of state structures has made it possible to transfer the efficiency of their functioning to a qualitatively new level. Unfortunately, as a means of action, they have characteristic vulnerabilities and can be used not only for good, but also for harm. For the state, as a guarantor of the stability of a civilized society, the issue of ensuring the security of information processing is particularly important. Despite the automation of many information processes, the most vulnerable link in the work of information systems remains a person. A person acts as an operator of information systems and a consumer of information. The entire service process depends on the competence of the operator and the quality of his perception. There are areas of government activity where the cost of error is particularly high. These include ensuring the life and health of citizens, protecting public order and the state system, and ensuring territorial integrity. The specifics of the spheres must be taken into account when ensuring the security of information. This study concerns official activities that are provided by paramilitary groups. Currently, there is a discrepancy in the level of competence of new personnel in the first months of service. The author traces the shortcomings of general and special professional qualities in the field of information security. The purpose of the study is to substantiate certain pedagogical means of forming cadets ' readiness to ensure information security. As forms of theoretical knowledge, we will use the traditional hypothesis and model, as well as functionally distinguishable judgments – problem, assumption, idea and principle. Empirical forms of knowledge will be observation (experimental method) and fixation of facts. To evaluate the effectiveness of the developed pedagogical tools, we use statistical methods: observation (documented and interrogated) and calculation of generalizing indicators. To formulate conclusions, we will use logical methods: building conclusions and argumentation. The approbation of certain pedagogical tools described in this article showed a significant positive trend in terms of competence in information security issues.

Types of Turkish Paramilitary Groups in the 1980s and 1990s

The Journal of Perpetrator Research (JPR) is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal committed to promoting the scholarly study of perpetrators and perpetration of political and mass violence, terrorism, and genocide. One of the journal’s aims is to engage critically with the very concepts of “perpetrator” and “perpetration”.JPR fosters scholarly discussions about perpetrators and perpetration across the broader continuum of political and mass violence without confining its attention to any particular geographical region or historical period. The journal's mission is to provide a forum for scholarship taking place across a broad range of fields including history, criminology, law, forensics, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, political science, memory studies, cultural studies, literary studies, film and media studies, museum studies, and education. JPR was created with the explicit aim of providing an inter- and cross-disciplinary space for the study of perpetrators and perpetration, including critical reflections on theories, methods, and approaches beyond, and between, and across disciplinary boundaries. JPR not only addresses past and present issues related to perpetrators and perpetration. Fundamental questions informing the journal include, for example, questions of terminology, motivation, ideology, agency, processes and dynamics, as well as questions of prevention: Who or what is a perpetrator? How is such a label applied and by whom? How do such labels evolve? What drives people to participate in mass violence and how do their crimes unfold? What measures can be taken to identify potential perpetrators before they act, and prevent them from committing crimes? What can be done to rehabilitate perpetrators after the fact?Another set of questions informing JPR pertains to the status and significance of the perpetrator as a discursive formation in legal, political, historical, philosophical, and cultural settings. How do societies come to terms with acts of perpetration and with the perpetrators themselves? What role does the figure of the perpetrator play in the popular imagination for different audiences? How do representations of perpetrators change over time and across geographical and cultural boundaries, as well as across different media, genres, and traditions? Finally, JPR is also interested in exploring questions of theory and method. What are the ethical and moral implications of studying perpetrators? How do ethical considerations influence the methodological and theoretical criteria of the inquiry? How does one address the inherent ambiguity, limitations, and contentiousness of labels such as “perpetrator,” and the strategic and political implications of their application in different contexts internationally?We seek innovative work on any aspect of the study of perpetrators and perpetration, both broader theoretical and methodological interventions into the field and work centering on more specific case studies and examples. Because of the journal’s interdisciplinary and global scope, all contributions should be written with an interdisciplinary and international readership in mind.We also invite proposals for special issues or special sections clustered around a particular topic or theme. If you would like to propose a special issue or section, please contact one of the editors.

Reclutamiento de migrantes en la frontera colombo-venezolana

Recruitment has been a phenomenon present in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. Thus, illegal armed groups (ELN, dissent from the former FARC, paramilitary groups, drug traffickers, among others) have seen migration as an opportunity to increase the number of members in their ranks. Thus, the exodus of Venezuelans has become an attractive phenomenon for recruitment where armed groups take advantage of irregular dynamics and socio-territorial complexities to increase the range of action of attacks, fighting and presence. That said, the research question is: How has the flow of Venezuelan migrants on the Colombian-Venezuelan border contributed to the strengthening of illegal armed actors? Due to the lack of academic information, the investigation will use as collection instruments: interviews with academics, decision makers and journalistic work.

Crime and COVID-19 in Rio de Janeiro: How does organized crime shape the disease evolution?

The city of Rio de Janeiro is one of the biggest cities in Brazil. Drug gangs and paramilitary groups called milícias control some regions of the city where the government is not present, specially in the slums. Due to the characteristics of such two distinct groups, it was observed that the evolution of COVID-19 is different in those two regions, in comparison with the regions controlled by the government. In order to understand qualitatively those observations, we divided the city in three regions controlled by the government, by the drug gangs and by the milícias, respectively, and we consider a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered-Dead (SIRD)-like epidemic model where the three regions are coupled. Considering different levels of exposure, the model is capable to reproduce qualitatively the distinct evolution of the COVID-19 disease in the three regions, suggesting that the organized crime shapes the COVID-19 evolution in the city of Rio de Janeiro. This case study suggests that the model can be used in general for any metropolitan region with groups of people that can be categorized by their level of exposure.

Pro-state paramilitary violence in Turkey since the 1990s

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the role of pro-state paramilitary groups in Turkey’s Kurdish conflict from the 1990s to the present. The role of paramilitaries in civil wars has been heavily discussed in general but remains understudied in the context of Turkey’s war with the PKK. Turkish state authorities established a number of paramilitary groups in the initial stage of the conflict. Their impact grew during the 1990s in line with the change in the state’s war strategy to a low-intensity conflict (LIC). This article discusses the evolution of the role of pro-state paramilitary groups in Turkey’s war with the PKK, focusing on their changing relationship with government agencies. It characterizes the first half of the 1990s as the paramilitarisation of the state and demonstrates the continuing impact of this into the 2000s. The data was collected from media resources, interviews, criminal prosecutions of national and local cases, and NGO reports. Overall, this article develops a better understanding of the nexus between paramilitarism and the state through the prism of Turkey’s Kurdish conflict.

From Belfast to the Somme (and back again): loyalist paramilitaries, political song, and reverberations of violence

ABSTRACT During the Northern Ireland conflict (1968–1998), paramilitary groups were supported and sustained by a sociocultural apparatus that helped legitimise their position within the community and disseminate their political message. From the use of flags and murals, to loyalist and republican parades, working-class vernacular culture revealed who was in control of various districts within the Province. For many working-class Protestants, loyalist songs were a key component of this culture, connecting the past and the present. Unlike the better-known marching band scene, which is a huge public spectacle, the loyalist song scene is much more private. Performed in a closed setting, within local bars and clubs, loyalist songs are reproduced for internal consumption rather than outward expression. Yet, in addition to celebrating a particular loyalist culture, such songs also serve an important function in authenticating and legitimising paramilitary groups, connecting them to older organisations, whose legacy they draw upon. This paper focuses on one such song, exploring how ‘The Ballad of Billy McFadzean’ is used to connect the Ulster Volunteer Force of the 1960s onwards, with the 1913 organisation of the same name. In so doing, the paper attempts to illustrate the political utility of song and how songs can be used to launder and legitimise conflict, as well as those engaged in political violence.

Mobilizing Bodies and Body Parts, from Myanmar to Manipur: Medical connections through borderlands in ‘transition’

AbstractThis article focuses on cross-border medical connections between Myanmar and Manipur, India. Non-state actors have been instrumental in creating the networks to bring bodies and body parts back and forth, first bypassing, then enmeshing, state actors. I focus on the movement of patients and medical samples across the border—from western Myanmar to Imphal city and back again—and the health infrastructure that enables it. Analysing these connections makes several contributions to the study of border governance. First, movement from Myanmar to Manipur is primarily for treatment or diagnosis, and these connections project particular ways of thinking about each place—western Myanmar as poor and remote, Manipur as advanced and networked. Second, both Manipur and western Myanmar can be considered in ‘transition’—as territories being recalibrated by political dynamics emanating elsewhere yet becoming connected through shared needs. Third, patients and samples move through territories controlled by paramilitary forces, underground groups, and different tribal councils. Routes are sometimes blocked or passage treacherous, testing the limits of conventional notions of bilateral border governance. Finally, cross-border medical connections between Manipur and Myanmar draw attention to the risky cross-border medical mobility of the poor. Rather than seeking to minimize cost, patients utilize Manipur's health infrastructure out of necessity, providing insights into the contours of cross-border medical care in times of transition.

Perspectivas múltiples del conflicto paramilitar en dos novelas colombianas recientes: Viaje al interior de una gota de Sangre (2011) de Daniel Ferreira y El espantapájaros de Ricardo Silva Romero (2012)

La violencia representada narrativamente en Colombia ha contemplado al menos tres ejes: la guerrilla, el paramilitarismo y el narcotráfico. La literatura se ha ocupado de estos temas, al poder identificarse entre ellos diversos (sub)géneros narrativos del conflicto armado como las novelas de desplazados, la sicaresca o novela del narcotráfico y también aquellos modos constitutivos relacionados con la guerrilla y la violencia paramilitar. Es esta última la que se explora en este artículo, al concentrarse en la representación novelesca de los textos literarios que abordan asuntos del paramilitarismo. Para lo anterior, se trabajará con dos novelas de aparición casi simultánea Viaje al interior de una gota de Sangre (2011) de Daniel Ferreira y El espantapájaros de Ricardo Silva Romero (2012). En ambas se relata la desparición de una población con la matanza indiscriminada de hombres, mujeres y niños a través de masacres. Narrativamente, estos relatos no se reducen únicamente a la masacre, pero este modo de impartir violencia tiene una importancia radical en la construcción de las historias. Historias que son mostradas a partir de perspectivas múltiples que incluyen usualmente a las víctimas y, paradojalmente, a los mismos victimarios. Este enjambre de voces establece una conexión con la masacre como experiencia de exterminio colectivo y como propiedad también discursiva del mismo género. Para el artículo es de radical importancia la confluencia de estas voces que desatan el nudo de la mortandad en perspectivas de inclusión tanto de la esfera de la víctima como se podría corroborar en otras novelas, así como la inclusión de las masculinidades victimizadoras. Estas últimas presupuestas en la aparición de las voces heterogéneas del grupo paramilitar que muestra, particularmente, Ricardo Silva Romero.

Сучасні проблеми міжнародного права і засоби їх вирішення

The article focuses on the aspects of lagging international law behind the needs of modern international relations. The authors critically assess the views of some scientists on the role of the United Nations, in particular the Security Council, in resolving international security crises and suggest significant changes in order to achieve their greater effectiveness and efficiency. According to the authors, the desired result can be achieved in two ways. The first of them is the introduction of new institutions in international law that would meet the modern needs of humanity; the second is the provision of new, qualitatively innovative functions to existing institutions. Among the new realities faced by international law is the active use by some states of such a set of political, economic, military and other measures, such as "hybrid warfare". The latter is used not only against Ukraine, but also against other countries of the world, in particular, against the countries of the European Union. Typical features of this shameful phenomenon are the destruction of unifying values, the use of traditional, non-traditional tactics and non-state (irregular) paramilitary groups, the organization of terrorist acts with the introduction of mass violence and coercion, as well as criminal riots. At the same time, the differences between regular and irregular divisions are blurred. Their actions are quickly and tactically directed and coordinated in order to achieve a synergistic effect in the physical and psychological dimensions of the conflict within the same theater of military operations. The latter observation, according to the authors, makes it necessary to overestimate the role of the state and the role of other, possibly potential subjects of international law. It is advisable to find criteria for responsibility for these actions and connection with the activities of a particular state. It is this formulation of the question that will allow effective actions in "hybrid" crimes without obstacles inherent in state sovereignty. We believe that it is time to continue discussing the prospects of participation in international legal regulation not only of individual individuals, but also of their totality (communities, formal and informal associations). An example to begin with is the "criminal liability" of legal entities.

Синташта как культурно-исторический феномен бронзового века

The Sintashta culture is the most controversial ethno-cultural formation of the Bronze Age, formed in the Ural-Kazakhstan steppes. It appears suddenly and is located on the territory of the Southern Trans-Urals. Fortified settlements and burial grounds of this culture spread in a wide strip along the eastern slopes of the Ural Range. The specificity of fortified urban-type settlements, uncharacteristic for the steppe zone of Eurasia, allowed researchers to conclude that they were imported from other regions where they had been originally developed and canonized. In this regard, the most probable is the gradual migration of the population from the territory of Asia Minor, the architectural and planning standards of which demonstrate features of detailed similarity. The alleged migration took place through the Trans-Asian corridor connecting the Middle East and Central Asia to South Kazakhstan, from where paramilitary groups appear in the South Trans-Urals and create the Sintashta culture. Fortified settlements are accompanied by the appearance of burials with chariot attributes, presented in the form of an already established complex of objects and technologies. In archaeological sources, the chariot complex is represented by the remains of chariots, skeletons of draft horses, cheekpieces, as well as weapons of distance and close combat. In the steppes of Eurasia, the war chariot becomes the most formidable and powerful weapon of the Bronze Age. Keywords: Sintashta, migration, chariot, Southern Trans-Urals, Middle East

Paramilitarism without Paramilitaries: 'Tres Caínes' and the Representation of Paramilitarism on Colombian TV Screens

The goal of this article is to analyse the representation of the Colombian armed conflict in the controversial TV series Tres Caines (2013), which dramatizes the history of paramilitarism in Colombia through a biographical story of the lives of the three brothers Castano Gil, the leaders and founders of Colombia’s biggest paramilitary group, the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC). I argue that Tres Caines represents the war through a rhetoric that is close to human rights and transnational justice perspectives, portraying its characters according to a dichotomy between victim and victimizer. Although the series purports to take a neutral position in the conflict, and condemns individual paramilitary leaders, it simultaneously salvages the ideology of paramilitarism, and thereby indirectly supports the political project of Alvaro Uribe Velez. Because of this, despite apparently taking a pacifist stance, the series constitutes a cultural product that works against peace in Colombia, and is an example of how humanitarian discourse can be easily exploited in the service of warmongering and reactionary messaging.