Paramilitary

Not to be confused with Paratrooper or Private army.

Legion of Frontiersmen, Edmonton Command, 1915 – a nationalist paramilitary group not officially affiliated with the Canadian Army

Generaloberst von Falkenhorst with the sisters of the Lotta Svärd, a Finnish voluntary auxiliary paramilitary organisation for women, in the summer of 1941 during the Continuation War

Paramilitary forces usually tend to wear similar but different uniforms to the military, for instance gray "urban camouflage".

A paramilitary organization is a semi-militarized force whose organizational structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's armed forces. Paramilitary units carry out duties that a country's military or police forces are unable, or sometimes unwilling, to handle.

Legality

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

Military compared to paramilitary

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. Paramilitary forces can also include private military company missions.

Types

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

Irregular military

• Irregular military forces: militias, resistance fighters, guerrillas, insurgents, terrorists, etc.

Auxiliary forces

• The auxiliary forces of a state's military: national guard, presidential guard, republican guard, state defense force, civil air patrol, home guard, royal guard, and imperial guard.
• Some police forces or auxiliary police: Indonesia's Mobile Brigade Corps (Brimob), Detachment 88, India's Assam Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Hong Kong Police Force, Bangladesh's Border Guards Bangladesh etc.

Political

• Armed, semi-militarized wings of existing political parties:
  • the Italian Fascist Party's Voluntary Militia for National Security
  • those of the Weimar Republic; which was very common during this period, when every political party in strife-torn Germany had their own; examples include:
    • the Nazi Party's Sturmabteilung and Schutzstaffel.
    • the Monarchist German National People's Party's Der Stahlhelm.
    • the Communist Party of Germany's Parteiselbstschutz.
  • Sinn Féin's Irish Republican Army.
  • Hamas's Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
  • the African National Congress's Umkhonto we Sizwe.
  • the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

Law enforcement

• Police departments of many countries are organized in a manner similar to military forces.
• Semi-militarized law enforcement personnel within normal police forces, such as SWAT teams in the United States and various police tactical units in other countries.
• Gendarmeries, such as Egyptian Central Security Forces and .
• Border guards, such as Australian Border Force, India's Border Security Force, Bangladesh's Border Guards Bangladesh and Turkey's Village guards.
• The United States' Federal Protective Forces and NASA's Emergency Response Teams.
• Security forces of ambiguous military status: internal troops, railroad guards, or railway troops.

Government agencies

• CIA - Special Activities Center (SAC) (specifically the Special Operations Group (SOG), staffed by Paramilitary Operations Officers)
• CIA - Global Response Staff

Home guards

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

Civil defense

• The fire departments of many countries are often organized in a manner similar to military or police forces despite being unarmed.
• The Belgian Civiele Bescherming and Singapore Civil Defence Force.
• The Australian State Emergency Service.
• The Lithuanian Riflemen's Union.

Examples of paramilitary units

For a more comprehensive list, see List of paramilitary organizations and List of defunct paramilitary organizations.

Paramilitary uniforms and equipment

The likes of a SWAT vehicle shown here would be a Paramilitary equivalent to, for instance, an Armoured personnel carrier used by the actual Military.

Due to status and legal reasons, Paramilitary forces tend to be issued similar/capable equipment etc but not issued to the Armed Forces as they have a completely different function and role.

Commercially manufactured non-government issue "tactical gear" sold to the civilian market can be also classed as Paramilitary gear.

See also

• Category:Rebel militia groups
• Internal Troops
• Security forces
• Weimar paramilitary groups
• List of Serbian paramilitary formations
• Paramilitarization
• Militarization of police
• Gendarmerie
• Panamanian Public Forces
• Fourth-generation warfare
• Private army
• Private Military Companies
• Death squad
• Violent non-state actor
• Military urbanism
• Urban guerrilla warfare
• List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel

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
• Üngör, Uğur Ümit (2020). Paramilitarism: Mass Violence in the Shadow of the State. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-882524-1.

External links

• Global Security