Author
Paker, Evren Balta, Yuksel, M., Acar, Y. G.
Publication Date
2022-01
Publication Place
-
Sage
Subject
Pro-government militias, Village guards, Peace process, Turkey
Type
Periodical
Language
English
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Özyeğin University
Library Asset ID
0095-327X
Record ID
80f298cd-a46d-4c17-9f9d-5ca46f82b12a
Library Location
International Relations
Date
2022-01
Notes
Istanbul Policy Center
Sample Text
Militia groups have only recently started to attract scholarly attention in the literature on internal conflicts. This attention is mostly focused on either the causes of their emergence or their functions and performance during the conflict. The role of militia groups in post-conflict processes, however, has not been adequately addressed. This article intends to fill this gap by analyzing the case of village guards, a type of pro-government militia system in Turkey, based on qualitative evidence from field research. While the dominant narrative in the literature identifies militia groups as spoilers in peace processes, the article shows that militias do not act as spoilers under certain conditions. In the case of the village guard system in Turkey, the permanent integration of militias into the state's regular military apparatus prevented militia groups from acting as spoilers. It then argues that the permanent integration of wartime militia systems is a consequence of two factors: militia networking and a lack of comprehensive peace-building structures.
DOI
10.1177/0095327X20910769
Cilt
48
