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2 War Crimes Genocide & Crimes against Human. 1 (2006)

handle is hein.journals/warcrim2 and id is 1 raw text is: War Crimes, Genocide, & Crimes against Humanity
Volume 2 (2006): 1-33
Militias and Genocide*
Alex Alvarez
Northern Arizona University
Abstract
This paper comprises a discussion of the role of
paramilitary groups, such as militias, in
perpetrating genocide. The reliance of many
states upon paramilitary style units poses some
potentially important questions about the
nature of genocide and other human rights
violations as well as the governments that
create and unleash them. After briefly defining
these groups, I specifically explore the reasons
why genocidal states rely so heavily on
paramilitary militia groups when they already
have military and police forces available. Using
Arkan's Tigers and the Rwandan Interahamwe
militia groups as examples, I explore the
nature and functioning of these groups as well
*Alex Alvarez is an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at
Northern Arizona University. He is the founding director of the Martin-Springer
Institute for Teaching the Holocaust, Tolerance and Humanitarian Values. His
main areas of study have been in the areas of minorities, crime, and criminal
justice, and the areas of collective and interpersonal violence. His first book,
Government, Citizens, and Genocide, was published by Indiana Press in 2001
and was a nominee for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences book of the
year award in 2002 as well as a Raphael Lemkin book award nominee from the
International Association of Genocide Scholars Book in 2003.

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