Proxy Warriors: The Rise and Fall of State-Sponsored Militias

208 Pages·2011·1.39 MB·English

by  Ariel Ahram

Proxy Warriors

Proxy Warriors
The Rise and Fall oF sTaTe-sponsoRed MiliTias
Ariel I. Ahram
Stanford Security Studies
An Imprint of Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2011 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
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Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ahram, Ariel I. (Ariel Ira)
Proxy warriors : the rise and fall of state-sponsored militias / Ariel I. Ahram.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8047-7358-4 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8047-7359-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Developing countries—Militia. 2. Paramilitary forces—Developing countries.
3. Developing countries—History, Military. I. Title.
UA13.A35 2011
355.3'5—dc22 2010023018
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Typeset by Thompson Type in 10/14 Minion
ConTenTs
Figures and Tables vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 The Origins and Persistence of State-Sponsored Militias 7
2 Indonesia 25
3 Iraq 56
4 Iran 95
5 Learning to Live with Militias 129
Notes 143
Index 187
v

FiguRes and Tables
Figures
1.1 Conceptual Map of Violence Devolution 10
1.2 U-Form Military Organization 12
1.3 M-Form Military Organization 13
1.4 Pathways of Military Development 21
Tables
1.1 Comparison between Conventional (Unitary Form) and
Militia-Based (Multidivisional Form) Military Organizations 14
1.2 Conflict by Type and Region, 1945–2006 17
1.3 Military Spending among LDSs, 1999 18
3.1 Change in the Size of the Iraqi Military, 1932–2008 57
vii

aCKnoWledgMenTs
I have accumulated debts both professional and personal in the process of
completing this project. Andy Bennett took me on as an advisee under some
very inclement circumstances, but I am glad and thankful that he did, as
he offered me valuable critique and advice throughout the project. Debbie
Avant, Dan Brumberg, Jack Goldstone, Steve Heydemann, Marc Howard, and
Charles King pushed me to consider realms of inquiry I would otherwise have
neglected. In addition, I am grateful to John Gledhill, Sara Goodman, Gabe
Rubin, Ryan Saylor, and Rachel Templer for their friendship, advice, and com-
miseration. Since coming to the University of Oklahoma, Mark Frazier, Zach
Messitte, and Greg Russell and have offered me an extraordinary home in
which to make the transition from student to professor.
A number of people offered comments and suggestions on various fac-
ets of this project. I gained a great deal of knowledge about the Middle East
through my discussions with Amatzia Baram, Adeed Dawisha, Michael Hud-
son, Kanan Makiya, Phebe Marr, Yitzhak Nakash, and Ken Pollack. David
Steinberg and Fred Von Der Mehden indulged me as an interloper in South-
east Asia. Sunil Dasgupta, John Fishel, Hillel Frisch, and Meyer Kestnbaum
gave me the value of their insights on militias around the world. Any mistakes
are mine, not theirs.
The project benefited from a number of sources of institutional support,
notably the Foreign Language and Area Studies Program, the Boren National
Security Education Program, the Institute for Qualitative and Mixed Method
Research, Georgetown University Graduate School, Georgetown’s Center for
Democracy and Civil Society, and the University of Oklahoma Vice President
ix