Proud Vermin: Modern Militias and the State

Contemporary arguments about private paramilitary organizations often focus on the threat of physical violence that they pose to the state: if such organizations garner enough physical power, then they can overtake the state via violent coup. Inspired by the legalist scholar Han Feizi's positio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of military ethics 2023-01, Vol.22 (1), p.33-50
Main Authors: Lewis, Colin J., Kling, Jennifer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
comparative philosophy
Han Feizi
Militias
Organizations
paramilitary
PMSCs
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Contemporary arguments about private paramilitary organizations often focus on the threat of physical violence that they pose to the state: if such organizations garner enough physical power, then they can overtake the state via violent coup. Inspired by the legalist scholar Han Feizi's position, we contend that such organizations also represent a sociopolitical, existential threat to the state. Specifically, their tendency for ideological expansion and subsequent gathering of political influence undermines state institutions, even without the use of overt physical force. Consequently, the sociopolitical enterprise of having a unified, stable state is incompatible with the existence of, and public political support for, private paramilitary organizations, regardless of their actual or potential physical power. This argument succeeds regardless of the moral status of such paramilitary groups. Such groups, when they match the essential components of the description Han Feizi provides, are practically and politically antithetical to the integrity of the state.
ISSN:1502-7570
1502-7589
DOI:10.1080/15027570.2023.2230690