Paramilitary

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Not to be confused with Paratrooper or Private army.

An Oregon Sheriff's Department SWAT team in full tactical gear.

A paramilitary is a semi-militarized force whose organizational structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not included as part of a state's formal armed forces.^[1]

Contents

• 
  1 Legality
  


• 
  2 Types
  
  • 
    2.1 Examples of paramilitary units
    
  
  


• 
  3 See also
  


• 
  4 References
  


• 
  5 Further reading
  


• 
  6 External links
  

Legality

Under the law of war, a state may incorporate a paramilitary organization or armed agency (such as a national police, a private volunteer militia) into its combatant armed forces. The other parties to a conflict have to be notified thereof.^[2]

Though a paramilitary is not a military force, it is usually equivalent to a military's light infantry force in terms of intensity, firepower, and organizational structure. A paramilitary may also commonly fall under the command of a military, even despite not being part of the military or play an assisting role for the military in times of war.

Types

Depending on the definition adopted, "paramilitaries" may include:

• 
  Irregular military forces: militias, guerrillas, insurgents, terrorists, and so forth


• The auxiliary forces of a state's military: National Guard, Presidential Guard, Republican Guard, State Guard, Home Guard, Royal Guard, and Imperial Guard
  


• Some police forces, such as police SWAT Teams, or auxiliary police and Indonesia's Mobile Brigade Corps (Brimob)
  


• 
  Gendarmeries, such as Egyptian Central Security Forces and Russia's National Guard
  


• 
  Border guards, such as Russia's Border Guard Service, Australian Border Force and India's Border Security Force
  


• The United States' Federal Protective Forces,


• Security forces of ambiguous military status: internal troops, railroad guards or railway troops
  


• Semi-militarized law enforcement personnel, such as SWAT teams in the United States and a number of other countries


• 
  Volunteer Defence Corps, such as Volunteer Defence Corps in Thailand, Volunteer Defence Corps in Australia, Shanghai Volunteer Corps and Royal Hong Kong Regiment
  

Examples of paramilitary units

• List of paramilitary organizations


• List of defunct paramilitary organizations

See also

• 
  Military history portal
  

• Category:Rebel militia groups


• Weimar paramilitary groups


• List of Serbian paramilitary formations


• Militarization of police


• Panamanian Public Forces


• Fourth-generation warfare


• Private army


• Death squad


• Violent non-state actor

References

1. 
   ^ "paramilitary". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. June 2011 [online edition; original published in June 2005]. Retrieved 2011-09-13. Designating, of, or relating to a force or unit whose function and organization are analogous or ancillary to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having professional or legitimate status. 
   


2. 
   ^ "Customary IHL - Section B. Incorporation of paramilitary or armed law enforcement agencies into armed forces". Icrc.org. Retrieved 2013-07-27. 
   

Further reading

• Golkar, Saeid. (2012) Paramilitarization of the Economy: the Case of Iran's Basij Militia, Armed Forces & Society, Vol. 38, No. 4


• Golkar, Saeid. (2012). Organization of the Oppressed or Organization for Oppressing: Analysing the Role of the Basij Militia of Iran. Politics, Religion & Ideology, Dec., 37–41. doi:10.1080/21567689.2012.725661


• Mexico's Plan to Create a Paramilitary Force

External links

Look up paramilitary in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Global Security