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Militias hamper state‐building by undermining the government's monopoly of violence, which creates an environment of anarchy. Yet many governments collaborate with them. These pro‐government militias (PGMs), such as paramilitary groups, are not only a poor‐country phenomenon, that is, economic growth does not seem to eradicate these armed nonstate actors: Intriguingly, cross‐country data reveals a U‐shaped relationship between GDP per capita and PGM presence. This article presents an economic theory of PGM supply that can explain this puzzling relationship and provide actionable ways for international actors (e.g., UN) to discourage the emergence of PGMs. However, the theory also cautions that some common international policies (e.g., development aid) may unintentionally encourage PGM supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a revised interpretation of the Scottish republican thinker and political activist Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun’s views on the issue of militias and standing armies. Reconstructing both its English and Scottish contexts, it is shown that Fletcher’s republicanism incorporated strong constitutionalist elements by engaging with several forms of political discourses and practices. On the one hand, his Discourse concerning Militias (1697) issued in London went much further than the moderate neo-Harringtonian propaganda of the anti-army camp, arguing for delivering the right to use arms to the parliaments instead of the king. On the other, the second version of Fletcher’s tract published in Edinburgh in 1698 and his 1703 parliamentary ‘limitations’ enlarged the participation in the militia to landless subjects, transcending both the Buchananite ethos of the nobility in arms and James Harrington’s original agrarian model. As a result of this study, Fletcher’s idea of government emerges as much closer to English Civil War authors and the likes of Algernon Sidney and Henry Neville than to any of his contemporaries. The conclusions stress how Fletcher’s radical stance should be considered as the most important facet of his legacy, presenting some cases of reception in the age of revolutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to land and to adequate housing—a constitutionally granted right in Brazil—is currently under attack by non-state armed actors, the so-called militias, in Rio de Janeiro. In their attempts to widen territorial control, "militias" weaponize urban development. To understand such form of militarization, I argue that we need to add a geographical perspective to literatures on criminal governance: Terrain and its political materiality is the basis and not only the outcome of spatial claims to power. To sustain this contribution, I turn to local scales and add insights from ethnographic studies on how paramilitary groups affect the lives of residents. I trace the paramilitary influence along their terrain-shaping and urban development activities. The empirical basis of my argument is drawn from the northern periphery of Rio de Janeiro, looking at how "militias"—emerging as armed developers out of a past as Death Squads—expand their influence by investing in urban development. In this paper, "militia" is conceived as a floating signifier. As such, the meaning of militia is contested, as it encompasses a wide range of practices including civil construction, laying infrastructure, and landscaping. This way, the term "militia" becomes a cornerstone of a militarized urban development discourse and practice. "Militia," as the encompassing center of a narrative cluster, bolsters bellicose forms of governing urban expansion, thereby further militarizing the everyday life of a large part of the marginalized urban society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of the police as a “good order” from the Polizeiwissenschaft of absolutism was developed in the biopolitical model of caring for the population of the Modern era, engaged in ensuring safety and well-being. Being a product of mass society, the modern state has focused on influencing public opinion. In the XIX–XX centuries, there was a counter-movement of police supervision and art which gave rise to ‘police aesthetics’. Cinematography was an effective means of forming a desirable image of the Soviet militia in the post-war period of normalization of public life. By contributing to the Soviet myth of developed socialism, militia cinema contributed to a screen-to-life transfer of a new norm of trust between representatives of power and citizens. This constructivist cinema involved the viewer in the cinematic reality by likening them to the main character, a militiaman who acts as a moral guide. In addition to forming the image of the ‘familial militia’, intellectual militia cinema—with its focus on professionalism—is actively developing. The most popular version of the latter is militia cinema that thematizes the moral rightness of militia officers fighting crime in the name of Soviet citizens. Involvement in the cinematic reality through assimilation, novelty, memory, and imagination included the romanticization of the historical events of the revolution. Militia cinema was inverted during the years of the perestroika. It exploited the effect of novelty associated with the viewer's immersion in emerging market relations. The viewer's interest was focused on the wrong, criminal, side of public life. Crime is romanticized, the militia is stigmatized. From constructing the myth of cooperation between the government and the population, militia cinema moves on to deconstructing the myth, achieving an effect of denigration. The fashion for American cinema brings elements of action, thriller, horror. The viewer is no longer included in the imperious project of transforming reality; they are attracted by the illusion, the spectacle. The latest police cinema, overcoming total deconstructionism, is busy reconstructing the spirit of Soviet militia cinema in modern settings. Oscillating between the intention to generate positive images of the police and the demonstration of the “truth of life”, modern police cinema contains the natal shoots of a new cinema in which the image of the police is important for the normalization of public life.

The article examines the main aspects of recruitment, training and education of militia personnel in the 1960s. The overall shortage of personnel, especially qualified and experienced ones, continued to be significant in those years. In 1964–1967, almost half of the rank and file and junior militia officers changed hands. The ways in which professional training for the militia was organised, in particular through the Higher School of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Donetsk, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv and Odesa secondary specialised militia schools and the establishment of training and advisory centres at them, and the organisation of schools for improving operational skills, are shown. The formation of militia personnel during this period was largely carried out using the same methods as before, in particular, the leadership was recruited through the transfer of employees of party, Soviet and Komsomol bodies to the militia. In the 1960s, the militia staff was increased. The Ministry of Public Order and its local bodies paid considerable attention to political and educational work among militia officers, as had been the case throughout the Soviet period. To this end, in 1966, the activities of political departments were restored. Measures were taken to improve the financial situation and medical care of militia officers. The awarding of special ranks to those who served in the militia was regulated. The next special ranks of commanding officers could be assigned in a sequential order after the expiry of the established term and length of service in the previous rank in accordance with the new rank of the staff position held and in the presence of a positive attestation. However, during the period under study, there were numerous violations of discipline and the rule of law among militia officers, and their level did not decrease, and in some cases even increased. The state of countering crime was often ‘embellished’, crimes were concealed, and the rights of detainees were violated. The study and analysis of unsolved crimes showed that the lack of professional skills, especially of operatives, was one of the main reasons for the delayed solving of a number of serious crimes. Nevertheless, in general, it can be stated that the situation with militia personnel has improved somewhat at present.

The scientific paper is devoted to the problems of legal regulations of service in the USSR militia in the 20s of the 20th century. Legislative and by-laws adopted by the authorities of the Ukrainian SSR during the period under study were used. Some archival documents containing orders of the militia authorities regulating the service were introduced into scientific circulation. During the study period the distinct aspects of service in the Ukrainian SSR militia were identified. It was determined that in the 1920s, educational, political, and health criteria were established for Ukrainian SSR militia service candidates. The procedure for promotion and conditions of service career were established by the Rules of Service in the militia, which were approved by the NKVD of the USSR. The working hours and dismissal conditions of militia officers were regulated by departmental by-laws of the NKVD of the USSR and the collective agreement based on labor legislation. Attention was paid to the 1926 Regulation on the Militia, which stated the application of labor law standards to militia officers with specific exceptions outlined in the legislative act. It was determined that legal protection for militia officers during their duties was governed by the Criminal Codes of 1922 and 1927, along with the norms of the Administrative Code of 1927. The researcher believes that the 1926 Militia Regulation's provisions, which extended labor law norms to militia officers, are beneficial for updating the current legislation governing police service. It is suggested to consider the possibility of legal regulations of police service based on labor law norms with certain exceptions provided for in the legislation.

The issues of gender disparity, parity, equality, and equity have been popping up in relation to the status of the welfare of the girl-child. There are many advocacy groups supporting the protection of the female gender drawing attention to women and female children, but who cares about the boychild? It is notable in this article that the boy-child is left to suffer the forces of destiny, fate and cosmological incidences! However, the question about the fears of education wastage and recruitment to militia activities translates into a cause for critical apprehension. It is from this backdrop that this paper articulates the necessity of establishing the plight of the boy-child, explaining the contingency between the boy-child and education wastage, and alluding to the prospect of boy-child recruitment into the militia atrocities and outrages. The study is guided by analytical, critical, and prescriptive methods of technical philosophy and the facts are drawn from existing literature. It is palpable that an ignored boy-child is equally exposed to a myriad of plights, education wastage, and proclivity to terrorism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWhat explains the choice of means and methods of warfare by armed groups? Conversely, why would some groups choose not to use certain weapons? Beyond the legitimacy- and reputation-based explanations common in existing literature, this article highlights the role of tactical utility, inherent costs, and normative biases of specific means and methods in shaping these decisions. Through a combination of congruence analysis and comparative methods, the article examines why the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), while employing a wide range of brutal forms of violence, generally avoided using landmines, contrasting this restraint with the behavior of other Colombian armed groups. Although the lack of tactical utility seems to be the primary driver of the non-use of landmines, the costs and stigma associated with using mines influence how the AUC perceived their utility. The findings underscore the importance of context-specific factors in the decision-making processes of non-state armed groups and contribute to broader discussions on the disaggregation of violence in civil wars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the impact of politico-religious extremist armed militia groups in Africa. Armed groups in Africa have caused destruction of both life and property, resulting in underdevelopment and making it difficult to engage in profitable and meaningful development and peace due to conflict. All regions in Africa have been affected by these armed groups; Al-Shabaab in East Africa, armed conflicts in Sudan, Uganda’s Joseph Kony in Central Africa, Boko Haram in West Africa, and ISIS in North Africa, among others, are both religiously and politically connected. These groups, driven by their ideologies of conflict and deep theological conceptions of a hermeneutical nature, claim either to fight for God or against those opposed to their ideologies. They assert that they have been excluded from democratic political processes or religious participation, leading to leadership struggles where a minority, or majority, group seems to be sidelined in political governance or religious recognition. Politico-religious conflicts have left behind destruction, including murder, loss of property, underdevelopment, insecurity, and food scarcity, among others.

During the last decade Romania has undergone major political transformation from communist regimes to democratic forms of government. Despite changes–introducing police ranks, changing uniforms, prohibiting party affiliation, police find it more difficult to persuade citizens that they have really changed. The article details the modifications that came about in tandem with the evolution of the Romanian Police following Romania’s 1990 political upheaval. The relationship between socioeconomic shifts and the corresponding modifications to law enforcement agencies has received special attention. These modifications range from renaming the Militia to the Police to altering its personnel, organizational structure, and legal framework. The Romanian Police is a professional organization that serves the public and is commemorating its 202th anniversary in 2024.

In the 1950s, the daily functions of the militia continued to include combating violations of street traffic rules and controlling the decrease in motor vehicle accidents. The accident rate on the roads of the republic at that time remained high. An analysis of the current state of road safety shows that the level of accidents, injuries and deaths on the roads was influenced by such objective factors as the level of development of the regulatory framework, the technical condition of vehicles, the level of development of the road network, its quality, and weather and climatic conditions. Subjective factors included the level of legal culture of road users (drivers and pedestrians), the degree of their readiness to participate in traffic, the professional qualifications and material and technical equipment of the employees of the State Automobile Inspection. During this period, state bodies carried out significant, but ambiguous in quality, rule-making work, the purpose of which was to develop measures aimed at improving both objective and subjective conditions that affected the state of road safety and were of a mutually agreed nature. The established driver training mechanism was one of the important components of the effective operation of the road safety system. Therefore, the activities of state bodies, in particular the State Automobile Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR, were aimed at forming not only stable skills in driving vehicles among the drivers, but also behavioral stereotypes that require compliance with legal norms in the field of road safety. At the same time, it was necessary to develop and legally establish criteria for assessing the quality of their training in the relevant institutions. Militia bodies carried out quite active work to improve the situation with road accidents, which included measures of administrative influence, involvement of the public in monitoring violations of traffic rules, various propaganda activities, but its effectiveness was ultimately insignificant.

The historical aspects of the formation and development of militia in Ukraine are studied, with special attention paid to its role during the revolutionary events and the civil war. The state of law and order in the Ukrainian lands in the late 19th – early 20th centuries, key legal aspects of the formation and initial stage of the militia functioning are analysed, and a scientific assessment of its activities in the context of complex revolutionary challenges is provided. The creation and development of the Soviet militia was a complex and ambiguous process, so the challenges faced by the newly formed militia during the revolutionary period are analysed. The historical factors that contributed to the creation and development of the militia, its transformation over time, and the formation of the modern police are studied. Historical experience shows that the establishment of the Soviet militia depended on many factors, namely: the gradual formation of tasks, powers and functions of the militia, the definition of the regulatory framework for its activities, the organisation of the system of administrative apparatus, coordination of efforts at the local and central levels, the resolution of personnel issues, etc. The necessity of studying the historical processes of formation of the modern police, its institutional origins in the context of the State development is emphasised, and the crucial role of the police in maintaining the rule of law, public order and security of citizens of modern Ukraine is noted. The study of historical factual material contributes to a better understanding of the evolution, nature and role of state institutions designed to protect Ukraine's sovereignty and solve other tasks in the field of national security and law enforcement in response to the needs of society, offering ideas for future effective strategies based on historical experience and current challenges.

The historiography of militia activity during the years of partial de-Stalinisation is divided into two stages: the Soviet period and the period of Ukraine’s independence. The 1960s-1980s were marked by a significant increase in researchers' interest in studying the general issues of the history and legal foundations of internal affairs. At that time, monographic studies and dissertations appeared, which dealt with various issues of theory and practice of organisation and functioning of militia bodies, including development and improvement of the structure, functions and legal basis of their activities, restructuring of the work of internal affairs bodies in accordance with the conditions of the “thaw”, organisation of combating crime, protection of public order, performance of managerial and economic tasks, and resolution of special issues. A significant part of the works covers the issues of party leadership of internal affairs bodies, they are presented exclusively within the framework of the traditional assessment of the activities of these institutions, i.e. their “praise and glorification”. The second period in militia history research is characterised by a theoretical rethinking of previous established historical ideas, a radical revision of the concepts that previously dominated historical and legal science. For the first time, specialists in the history of law enforcement agencies were able to conduct historical research free from ideological attitudes. Over the past decades, a number of works by foreign scholars have been published that examine some aspects of the role of law enforcement agencies during the period of Stalin's totalitarian regime. They analyse some of the causes of crime and its evolution in the USSR at that time, and examine the social and cultural impact of the Thaw on relations, decision-making and policy-making in the Soviet Union during the period when N. S. Khrushchev was its leader. Foreign scholars emphasise that many of the reform initiatives commonly associated with Khrushchev personally and with the period of his rule in general often have their roots in the Stalinist period, both in their content and in the way they were implemented. It has been stated that the activities of the militia in Ukraine in the 1950s and 1960s are insufficiently studied.

The article examines the insufficiently studied in historical and legal science issue of the activities of such a controversial political figure of the first post-Stalin months of 1953 as Pavlo Yakovlevych Meshyk. It is emphasised that he, having a university degree (which was rare for NKVD personnel in those years) and significant organisational skills, made a successful career in the central apparatus of the People’s Commissariat in the late 1930s. This was also due to the patronage of P. Meshyk by L. Beria. P. Meshyk was directly involved in Stalin’s repressions. In 1941, at the age of 30, he first became People’s Commissar for State Security of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1943, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General. From 1945 until March 1953, he worked on the implementation of the Soviet nuclear project. He was awarded the Order of Lenin (1949) for his active participation in the implementation of the nuclear programme, and later even received the Stalin Prize in Science and Technology (1951). In March 1953, he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic, where he pursued a policy of strengthening the rule of law in the activities of the state security agencies and purging them of the most odious and incompetent employees. At the same time, a policy was implemented to rid the state security agencies of their dependence on the influence of the Communist Party. At the same time, P. Meshyk came into conflict with some party officials, including the then leader of the republic, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the CP(B)U, L. Melnikov. As a result, L. Melnikov was dismissed. P. Meshyk also took some measures to “root” the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, translated the ministry’s office work into Ukrainian, eased some of the Soviet government’s repressive policies towards the Ukrainian national liberation movement, actually restored the normal operation of Lviv State University, and improved contacts with Western Ukrainian intellectuals. These were positive aspects of the minister’s activities that can be assessed as attempts at reform. However, P. Meshyk stayed in the post of Minister of the Interior for only three months. In June 1953, he was arrested and later convicted on charges of treason and conspiracy to seize power, and in December of the same year, Meshyk was shot dead. He was partially rehabilitated in 2000.

The current scenario of criminality in Rio de Janeiro evidences a reconfiguration of the lines of forces, producing a chain in which several criminal groups interact with each other and with the forces of (harmonious or disharmonious) order in search of territorial control and economic resources. Drug trafficking extorting residents, militia selling illicit drugs, and mutual cooperation agreements between both, show that the borders that operated the distinction between them reveal that the boundaries that operated the distinction between these two organizations have been resignified, producing complex situations and assemblages. This research seeks, from a methodological approach that combines analysis of media and documentary discourse with interviews and conversations with residents, to understand how the practices of the Liga da Justiça militia have changed over time and what are the contexts and consequences of these changes for residents of the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar (RUHM) is the property of Centro de Estudios de la Guerra and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background. Nowadays, the regional component of the national military history is an area of historical science that has not been fully studied. In many ways, this concerns the pre-revolutionary period of Russian history, especially Russia’s participation in the wars of the 19th – early 20th centuries. This publication considers the key aspects of logistic support of the militia at the Penza province during the Crimean War (1853–1856). Materials and methods. The realization of this goal was achieved through the use of previously unpublished materials from the Russian State Military Historical Archive, the State Archive of Penza Re-gion and the Scientific Archive of the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineering and Communications Troops. Historical-genetic and systemic methods were used in the prep-aration of the publication. Mathematical and statistical methods were used as auxiliary re-search methods. Thanks to this, it was possible to fully recreate the picture of Penza militia logistics during the war in the Crimea. Results. The historiography of the problem under consideration is characterized. The reasons that led to the convocation of the state mobile militia in Russia during the Crimean War (1853–1856) are revealed. The composition, for-mation and training of Penza province warriors are established. The problematic issues that arose during the logistics organization of Penza militia were noted. The combat path of state mobile militia squads formed on the territory of Sursky Krai is considered. Conclusions. Thanks to the appeal to historical experience, it has been established and proved that only advance military planning, proper organization of reservists, as well as pre-accumulated lo-gistic reserves at the required level are able to ensure success in wars and armed conflicts.

This article is an enquiry into the voluntary and part-time nature, as well as the Britishness, of the Canadian militia, especially the Non-Permanent Active Militia (NPAM), in an interwar ‘nation-in-arms’. Major-General Maurice Pope’s insights are revisited through the eyes of regimental histories, print media, memoirs and other sources. After reviewing the role of voluntarism, unpaid service and improved training, three themes will be considered. The first is a type of training known as close-order drill, singled out by Joseph Pope as a mark of English-speaking regimental culture. The creation in 1937 of a Canadian Guards brigade, part of a wider Guards tradition across the British World, ties into a second theme briefly considered: NPAM participation in the royal tour of 1939 in communities across Canada, which merits a more detailed study. Third, there follows a case study of one exemplary but lesser-known interwar officer in Ottawa, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Lisle of the Governor General’s Foot Guards, who, like so many men across the country, as well as his civilian day-job, pursued a lifelong part-time army career as a reserve unit officer and realist contributor to the Canadian Defence Quarterly.

The military career of the Marquis of Távara, a less well-known historical figure among the nobility of Early Modern Spain, deserves attention because his life-experience progressed from his local roles in particular kingdoms to culmination in major duties such as President of the Council of Orders. His career advanced from mere adventurer to maestre de campo (field commander of a tercio), thereafter he held vice-regal office in Sicily and Navarre and the captaincies-general of Aragon, Galicia, Old Castile and Extremadura, and he was involved in the wars against the Portuguese and Catalans during the crisis of the 1640s. Also, he held responsibility for the Monarchy's entire artillery, and he became an active member of the Council of War. Quite apart from his aristocratic origins, this paper explores how his meritorious military career in combination with his three strategic marriages assisted him in setting and shaping a strategy for military promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to offer a historical overview, legal framework and analysis of the reserve force, conscription or compulsory military service, and militia systems in Ethiopia from the period of Emperor Haile Selassie to the present. Methodologically, it employs an empirical examination of literature and legal documents on the reserve force, conscription and the militia. There is an inadequacy of literature on the three major citizen soldier defence institutions in Ethiopia, and this paper is a partial attempt to fill the knowledge gap. The paper discusses the legal framework of the Emperor’s effort to create a reserve force named Territorial Amy, which more or less met its objective, even though the effort to start national military service failed. The military government’s vicious mobilisation of militia and heavy recruitment of the youth for national military service resulted from the extended civil war that ended with the liberation of Eritrea and the toppling of the government. Currently, the government is planning to start national military service; on the other hand, a nominal reserve force exists, and the mostly rural institution of the militia plays an important citizen soldier role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines between 2014 and 2021 the rise of the Azov movement, an ultra-nationalist formation that used to be questioned for both its role within the state apparatus as a regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard and its status as a political opponent. Drawing on comparative literature about the relationship between a state and politico-military mobilizations and playing on different scales of analysis, we intend to question the way in which the Azov movement has been linked to the Ukrainian state during these years. We argue that the emergence of the movement is the result of a mutual instrumentalization between the latter and the state apparatus for the benefit of their respective agendas.

The article analyzes the role militia assistance brigades and people’s squads played in the preservation of social order and in anti-crime campaigns in the 1940s-1960s. The author investigates archival materials and militia-issued newspapers. The author maintains that during the investigated period, the authorities did their best to encourage community to main-tain law and order, which was necessitated by staff shortages. The analysis of historical documents enables the author to identify a whole number of tasks performed by militia assistance brigades such as street patrolling, crime prevention, criminal detention. The article shows what propaganda tools were used by Soviet militia officers to involve Soviet community groups in the preservation of law and order. The author focuses on the transformation of people’s squads and their tasks and maintains that militia assistance brigades gradually grew inefficient because of bureaucracy.

Examining Rio de Janeiro's milícias ('militias') through the 'coercive brokerage' concept can reveal how they are central to how states and markets function. By tracing their emergence through moments of political and economic rupture, this article reveals how milícias responded to the social dilemmas of marginalised populations. Drawing from archival documentation, interviews, and ethnographic fieldnotes, this article argues that by brokering solutions to collective action problems and attempting to level‐up inequalities, milícias gained access to the political system and were able to shape the urban political economy. However, their coercive force also stimulated fresh contradictions, leading to a new set of structural, symbolic, and physical violences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Urban margins are typically depicted as residual, apolitical spaces, where delinquent activities take place. But these spaces, with their own social, economic and political goings-on, are capable of drawing established urban economic and political structures into question. This paper brings together urban frontiers, political settlements and brokerage literatures to analyse how residents muddle through the challenges of everyday life in the urban margins and interact with coercive systems of rule. Through ethnographic fieldwork, this paper focuses on two brokers from neighbouring communities in Rio de Janeiro's West Zone; exploring how they mediate violent conditions, coercive militia rule and limited resources, and why and how they do so to different effects. By focusing on the spatial and historical dimensions of brokerage, this paper argues that power in Rio de Janeiro's margins derives not only from coercive control and domination, but also from agency, legitimacy and social energy. By doing so, this paper unearths potential for more radical possibilities for urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an enquiry into the voluntary and part-time nature, as well as the Britishness, of the Canadian militia, especially the Non-Permanent Active Militia (NPAM), in an interwar 'nation-in-arms'. Major-General Maurice Pope's insights are revisited through the eyes of regimental histories, print media, memoirs and other sources. After reviewing the role of voluntarism, unpaid service and improved training, three themes will be considered. The first is a type of training known as close-order drill, singled out by Joseph Pope as a mark of English-speaking regimental culture. The creation in 1937 of a Canadian Guards brigade, part of a wider Guards tradition across the British World, ties into a second theme briefly considered: NPAM participation in the royal tour of 1939 in communities across Canada, which merits a more detailed study. Third, there follows a case study of one exemplary but lesser-known interwar officer in Ottawa, Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Lisle of the Governor General's Foot Guards, who, like so many men across the country, as well as his civilian day-job, pursued a lifelong part-time army career as a reserve unit officer and realist contributor to the Canadian Defence Quarterly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar (RUHM) is the property of Centro de Estudios de la Guerra and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

What happens to the anti-government movement when someone they support takes power? When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, the U.S. militia movement faced a challenge of narrative coherence: the risk that the stories the movement tells were no longer logically consistent. This article investigates the Oath Keepers, a group that pivoted from staunch opposition to federal power to supporting Trump, and ultimately in 2020 called for massive military action to suppress protests and re-run the election. Through an analysis of 137 official Oath Keepers online statements and posts from 2015-2021 and over 4,000 comments by followers and members on those posts, two narrative strategies are identified. First, the group extended their existing narrative by continuing to tell Revolutionary War metaphors but made Trump the new protagonist in those stories. Second, they used semantic adjustments to avoid hypocrisy as they embraced central state power. As they aligned with Trump, the military gradually supplanted the militia as a key actor in their narratives of change. Additionally, in 2020 they told their followers to no longer use the term martial law in order to make their new narrative fit within their founding ideology. This article bridges work on narratives in terrorism studies and the large civil war literature on shifting alignments and provides a deeper understanding of the strategic messaging of anti-government extremists. At a more micro-level, the analysis of debates among followers gives insight into how anti-government extremists think about their relationship to the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the career of LieutenantColonel Francisco Xavier Bigode, the last commander of Salvador’s black militia, the Henrique Dias Regiment (later Battalion), from his enlistment in 1797 to his murder after the 1838 Sabinada Rebellion. It examines how he adapted his Old-Regime baroque ideology and his understandings of the segregated militia’s place in the colonial order to the liberal principles of the newly independent Brazilian empire that continued to pay salaried black militia officers less than their white counterparts and, in 1831, abolished the black militia. Although he was not a leader in the movement for independence, his four-decade military career spanned the entire independence process in Bahia and his choices reveal some of the options available to Brazilians at this time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aspects of the USSR militia staffing in 1945 are revealed. The main directions of personnel work were as follows: 1) completion of staffing of militia bodies; 2) consolidation of personnel, primarily management; 3) creation of an effective reserve of nomination; 4) organization of training, improving the quality of preventive and educational work among personnel; 5) completion of the collection and search of personal files and bringing them into order, completion of a special inspection of those who joined the militia. During 1945, the PCIA (people's commissariat of internal affairs) of the Ukrainian SSR provided instructions on all these issues in the form of directives, reviews, written comments on the work and provided practical assistance on field trips. Specialists were trained in special courses in militia schools, whose activities were resumed in several cities of the republic. In 1945, 12,153 people came to recruit militia, and 5,906 people left and were released. A significant shortcoming in recruitment was staff turnover. The main reasons for the turnover in the police in 1945 were as follows: a) reduced admission requirements to the militia (recruited people without inspection by the medical commission, sometimes clearly disabled); b) insufficient verification of new recruits; c) weak educational work among the staff. Of the total number of those released in 1945: a) for illness, age and inadequacy – 4652 people; b) according to the materials of the special inspection – 1526 people; c) for moral and domestic decomposition, violation of labor discipline, personal desires and family circumstances – 9626 people. Among the militia, 3 % were those with higher and incomplete higher education, 13 % – secondary, 25 % – below secondary and 57 % – lower education. Ukrainians in the PCIA of the USSR in 1945 accounted for 55 %, Russians – 35 %, Jews – 4 %, Belarusians – 2 %, others – 2,6 %. In general, in 1945 the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs and its subdivisions carried out significant and diverse work to improve the staff of the republic's militia.

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The year 1956 was significant both in the history of Ukraine and the USSR, but also for world history. The death of I.V. Stalin in 1953 marked the beginning of the partial liberalization of the political regime in the Soviet Union; the strongest impetus for the continuation and intensification of this process was in 1956, the year of the XX Congress of the CPSU and the CPSU Central Committee Resolution “On overcoming the Stalin’s cult of personality and its consequences”, where a lot of terrible truth about the Soviet past was told for the first time. This significantly changed the political and socio-economic situation in the country, in fact prevented further mass repression of the population and significantly changed the role of law enforcement agencies, which really began to acquire the characteristics of law enforcement. There was a change of the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the Ukrainian SSR, which was another step in clearing the state leadership of the most odious Stalinist personnel and meant strengthening the control of the communist party agencies over the militia. The new leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs believed that the main shortcoming in the activities of the militia was the lack of activity in the fight against crime and the significant level of crime among police officers themselves. There were also shortcomings in the operative work on crime prevention and detection. The selection and placement of personnel was badly organized in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. There were many cases, when people without proper training were assigned to important areas of operative and investigative work in the militia. Departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and militia divisions in oblasts were reorganized into unified departments of internal affairs of executive committees of oblast Soviets of Workers’ Deputies, and militia departments in cities and districts were transformed into militia divisions of executive committees of city and district councils. That meant the resumption of dual subordination of local law enforcement agencies to executive committees of councils and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But that reorganization did not have the desired effect.

The relevance of the research topic is due to theoretical and practical significance of the problems of combating economic crime in modern conditions. In this regard, the issue of the effectiveness of the modernized police in accordance with the new tasks is of great importance. The original experience of combating economic crime was gained in previous years, but especially specific in this case were the 1950s, when there was departure from Stalin’s criminal policy, when the liberalization of the political regime and economic reforms began. In general, the country had a new political and economic situation. Various perpetrators also tried to take advantage of this, so the fight against both criminal and economic crime continued to be relevant in the new conditions. This topic is not enough studied in the historical and legal literature. Economic crime has been studied in the article in the sense that it was exactly in the specified historical period. For the first time in the historical and legal literature we studied the activities of the police to combat economic crime in the middle of 1950s, demonstrated certain achievements and shortcomings in this work, its management by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR. The historical and legal analysis of the normative acts regulating the work of militia in the specified sphere has been carried out. New archival documents have been introduced into scientific circulation, which made it possible to expand and deepen the scientific understanding of police activities during this period, to give it greater objectivity and reliability. The main attention has been paid to the fight against economic crime by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR; the author has demonstrated the shortcomings observed by the Ministry in this work, the ways to overcome them. It has been emphasized that the analysis of these phenomena by the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was not always in-depth; there were repetitions and superficial judgments. The data characterizing the state of economic crime in the Republic in 1954-1955 has been provided.