This Brief provides a comprehensive introduction to current research on armed groups and proposes a unitary political theory for their future analysis. Traditionally, theoretical and historical approaches to armed groups have focused on different categories of armed groups—insurgents, radical groups, militias, governmental forces—instead of treating them as unitary actors in international politics. This Brief departs from this traditional theoretical treatment, arguing that armed groups are fundamental units of politics, outside of class, gender, and the state, and should be analyzed as such.

The book begins with a discussion of current classifications and definitions of armed groups as well as methodological approaches towards studying them. Chapter Two discusses armed groups from a historical and anthropological perspective. Chapter Three presents a critical analysis and interpretation of existing political perspectives on armed groups. The book concludes by introducing thenew theory. Challenging traditional methods of political theory and analysis while providing a solid introduction to the field, this Brief will be of use to researchers and scholars in political theory, international relations, political science, and anthropology, as well as to professionals in fields such as policing, counter-terrorism, and internal affairs.

This book analyses the nationalist rebellion which emerged inRomania following the Second World War. The first two decades after the end ofthe war were times of rebellion in imperial peripheries. Armed movements,sometimes communist but nearly always nationalist in orientation, rose inopposition to retreating or advancing imperial powers. One such armed revolttook place in Romania, pitting nationalist partisans against a communistgovernment. This book is an analysis of how the authorities crushed thisrebellion, set in the context of parallel campaigns fought in Europe and theThird World. It focuses on population control through censorship, propagandaand deportations. It analyses military operations, particularly patrols,checkpoints, ambushes and informed strikes. Intelligence operations are alsodiscussed, with an emphasis on recruiting informants, on interrogation, tortureand infiltration. Bullets, brains and barbwire, not “hearts and minds”approaches, crushed internal rebels in post-1945 campaigns.

This Brief provides a comprehensive introduction to current research on armed groups and proposes a unitary political theory for their future analysis. Traditionally, theoretical and historical approaches to armed groups have focused on different categories of armed groups—insurgents, radical groups, militias, governmental forces—instead of treating them as unitary actors in international politics. This Brief departs from this traditional theoretical treatment, arguing that armed groups are fundamental units of politics, outside of class, gender, and the state, and should be analyzed as such.

The book begins with a discussion of current classifications and definitions of armed groups as well as methodological approaches towards studying them. Chapter Two discusses armed groups from a historical and anthropological perspective. Chapter Three presents a critical analysis and interpretation of existing political perspectives on armed groups. The book concludes by introducing thenew theory. Challenging traditional methods of political theory and analysis while providing a solid introduction to the field, this Brief will be of use to researchers and scholars in political theory, international relations, political science, and anthropology, as well as to professionals in fields such as policing, counter-terrorism, and internal affairs.

This book analyses the nationalist rebellion which emerged inRomania following the Second World War. The first two decades after the end ofthe war were times of rebellion in imperial peripheries. Armed movements,sometimes communist but nearly always nationalist in orientation, rose inopposition to retreating or advancing imperial powers. One such armed revolttook place in Romania, pitting nationalist partisans against a communistgovernment. This book is an analysis of how the authorities crushed thisrebellion, set in the context of parallel campaigns fought in Europe and theThird World. It focuses on population control through censorship, propagandaand deportations. It analyses military operations, particularly patrols,checkpoints, ambushes and informed strikes. Intelligence operations are alsodiscussed, with an emphasis on recruiting informants, on interrogation, tortureand infiltration. Bullets, brains and barbwire, not “hearts and minds”approaches, crushed internal rebels in post-1945 campaigns.