Militias as sociopolitical movements: Iraq's armed Shia groups
Thurber, Richard Chesley
2010
- Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Abstract: The rise to power of Iraq's Shia militias not only caught U.S. policymakers off-guard, it also revealed a broader lack of understanding of militias as a type of non-state armed group. While considerable research has been conducted on terrorist networks and ... read moreinsurgencies, the literature on militias is relatively weak. Furthermore, the Iraq case suggests that the frameworks that do exist for analyzing militias need to be expanded. Through a review of the existing literature on militias followed by a case study of the two largest Shia militias in Iraq - the Badr Organization and the Mahdi Army - this paper seeks to differentiate the Iraqi groups from previous characterizations of the militia based on their degree of popular legitimacy, pursuit of a social and political agenda, and participation in the institutions of the state. Far more than just warlords, Iraq's Shia militias are complex sociopolitical movements who are actively seeking to fill the gaps left by the weakness of the state in a bid to win the support of the people and consequently gain political influence. The use of force is but one element, along with the provision of social services and participation in formal politics, that these groups use as instruments to gain influence and realize their social and political agendas.read less
- ID:
- p55482678
- Component ID:
- tufts:UA015.012.077.00018
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