GeezerVison

GeezerVison is showing en.wikipedia.org — Paramilitary - Wikipedia

For the 1993 supplement for the role-playing game Paranoia, see Paramilitary (Paranoia).

Not to be confused with Paratrooper or Private army.

This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Paramilitary" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Legion of Frontiersmen, Edmonton Command, 1915 – a nationalist paramilitary group not officially affiliated with the Canadian Army

A paramilitary is an armed, militarized-like force or unit that functions and is organized in a manner analogous to a military force, but does not have professional or legitimate status.^[1] The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934.^[2] It has been used by many different political organizations from around the world throughout history.^[3] Paramilitaries have widely been synonymous with violence, political repression, ethnic cleansing, genocide and crimes against humanity.^[4]

Paramilitaries may use combat-capable kit/equipment (such as internal security/SWAT vehicles), or even actual military equipment (such as armored personnel carriers; usually military surplus resources) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such as law enforcement, coast guard, or search and rescue. A paramilitary may fall under the command of a military, train alongside them, or have permission to use their resources, despite not actually being part of them.^[5]

Legality

Under the law of war, a state may incorporate a paramilitary organization or armed agency (such as a law enforcement agency or a private volunteer militia) into its combatant armed forces. Some countries' constitutions prohibit paramilitary organizations outside government use.

Types

A group of the "Forest Brothers" in central Estonia meeting with a German unit in 1941

The Steel Shirts copying the Nazi salute during its rally in Syria

Depending on the definition adopted, "paramilitaries" may include:

Military organizations

Private military companies, mercenaries, and colonial troops.
Irregular military, such as auxiliaries, private armies, and militias.
State-parallel armed groups such as the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces^[6]

Law enforcement agencies

Semi-militarized law enforcement units within civilian police, such as police tactical units, SWAT, emergency service units, and incident response teams
Gendarmeries, such as the French National Gendarmerie, Chinese People's Armed Police, Dutch Royal Marechaussee, Egyptian Central Security Forces, European EUROGENDFOR, Turkic TAKM, and Chilean Carabineros de Chile
Border guards, such as the U.S. Border Patrol, Australian Border Force, Indian Border Security Force, Bangladeshi Border Guard Bangladesh, and Turkish village guards
Security forces of ambiguous military status, such as internal troops, railroad guard corps, and railway troops
Branches of government agencies such as intelligence agencies and military intelligence tasked with law enforcement, tactical support, or security operations, such as the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Center and Global Response Staff, or the U.S. Department of Energy's Federal Protective Forces

Civil defense

Political parties

Party militia
Armed, semi-militarized wings of political parties and similar political organizations, such as the German Schutzstaffel and Italian Blackshirts.

Examples of paramilitary units

Main articles: List of paramilitary organizations and List of defunct paramilitary organizations

References

↑ "paramilitary". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. June 2011 [online edition; original published in June 2005]. Retrieved 2011-09-13. Designating, of, or relating to a force or unit whose function and organization are analogous or ancillary to those of a professional military force, but which is not regarded as having professional or legitimate status.
↑ "paramilitary". Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
↑ Doxsee, Catrina (August 12, 2025). "Examining Extremism: The Militia Movement". Center for Strategic and International Studies.
↑ Dasgputa, Sunil (April 6, 2003). "Paramilitaries on the March". Brookings.
↑ Böhmelt, Tobias; Clayton, Govinda (February 2018). "Auxiliary Force Structure: Paramilitary Forces and Progovernment Militias". Comparative Political Studies. 51 (2): 197–237. doi:10.1177/0010414017699204. hdl:10654/38817. ISSN 0010-4140.
↑ Aliyev, Huseyn (2016). "Strong militias, weak states and armed violence: towards a theory of 'state-parallel' paramilitaries" (PDF). Security Dialogue. 47 (6): 498–516. doi:10.1177/0967010616669900.