When Militias capture the state: evidence from Lebanon, Iraq, and Sudan

ABSTRACTStudies on militias tend to focus on state policies, such as government collusion with militias during counterinsurgencies or post-conflict demobilization programs. This article examines militia strategies vis-à-vis the state, focusing on the case of militias engaged in ‘state capture’ – i.e. the covert and gradual penetration of state institutions aimed to shape public policy. The article provides an overview of key concepts and definitions, proposes a theoretical framework of state capture, and presents three fieldwork-based case studies: Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shia militias in Iraq, and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan.KEYWORDS: Militiasconflictcivil warelectionsinstitutionsstate capture Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. See Cohen, ‘Distant Battles’; Kaldor, New and Old Wars.2. Carey, Mitchell, and Lowe, ‘States, the Security Sector, and the Monopoly of Violence’.3. Aliyev, ‘Pro-Regime Militias and Civil War Duration’.4. Lyons, ‘Post-Conflict Elections and the Process of Demilitarizing Politics’; Alden, Thakur, Arnold, Militias and the Challenges of Post-Conflict Peace; Matanock and Staniland, ‘How and Why Armed Groups Participate in Elections’; Shaw and Aliyev, ‘The Frontlines Have Shifted’.5. Reno, Warfare in independent Africa; Debos, Living by the Gun in Chad; Stearns, The War that Doesn’t Say Its Name.6. Cohen and Nordas, ‘Do States Delegate Shameful Violence to Militias?’; Staniland, ‘Militias, Ideology, and the State’; Staniland, ‘Armed Politics and the Study of Intrastate Conflict’; Carey, Colaresi, and Mitchell, ‘Governments, Informal Links to Militias, and Accountability’; Aliyev, “When and How Do Militias Disband?7. Staniland, ‘Militias, Ideology, and the State’.8. Ahram, Proxy Warriors.9. Reno, Warfare in independent Africa10. Aliyev, ‘Strong Militias, Weak States and Armed Violence’.11. Lijphart, ‘The Comparable Cases Strategy in Comparative Research’; Collier and Mahoney, ‘Insights and Pitfalls’; Seawright and Gerring, ‘Case selection techniques in case study research’.12. Jentzsch, Kalyvas, and Schubiger, ‘Militias in Civil Wars’.13. Ahram, Proxy Warriors; Carey, Mitchell, and Lowe, ‘States, the Security Sector, and the Monopoly of Violence’.14. Weber, Politik als Beruf.15. Hellman and Kaufmann, ‘Seize the State, Seize the Day’.16. Faccio, ‘Politically Connected Firms’; Martin and Solomon, ‘Understanding the Phenomenon of “State Capture” in South Africa’; Chipkin and Swilling, Shadow State.17. Meirotti and Masterson, State Capture in Africa.18. Hertel-Fernandez, State Capture.19. Al-Idrissi and Lacher, ‘Capital of Militias’; Smith, Malik, and Knights, ‘Team of Legal Gladiators?’; Wimmen, ‘Lebanon’s Vicious Cycles’.20. Gingeras, ‘Last Rites for a “Pure Bandit”’21. Hussein, Frontline Pakistan.22. Interview code: MSC2021–02 (political analyst), 15 November 2021, Baghdad.23. e.g., Chambers, ‘Democratization Interrupted’.24. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism.25. Briscoe, ‘The Proliferation of the Parallel State’; Lupo, History of the Mafia.26. Manfredi, ‘Rethinking U.S. Policy in Afghanistan’.27. Interview code: MSC2019–12 (Hezbollah cadre), 6 August 6 2019, Nabatieh.28. Interview code: MSC2019–03 (Lebanese Armed Forces official), 24 July 2019, Beirut.29. Interview code: MSC2019–07 (investigative journalist), 1 August 2019, Beirut.30. Tilly, From Mobilization to Revolution; McAdam, The Political Process and the Civil Rights Movement; McAdam, McCarthy, and Zald, Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements.31. Shaw, ‘Beyond Necessity’; Terpstra, ‘Opportunity Structures, Rebel Governance, and Disputed Leadership’.32. Khatib, ‘How Hezbollah Holds Sway Over the Lebanese State’; Interview code: Interview code: MSC2019–12 (Hezbollah cadre), 6 August 2019, Nabatieh; Interview code: MSC2019–03 (Lebanese Armed Forces official), 24 July 2019, Beirut.33. Jaber, Hezbollah; Haddad, ‘The Origins of Popular Support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah’; El Husseini, ‘Hezbollah and the Axis of Refusal’; Norton, Hezbollah.34. Interview code: MSC2019–06 (academic), 29 July 2019, Beirut.35. Interview code: MSC2019–03 (Lebanese Armed Forces official), 24 July 2019, Beirut.36. Interview code: MSC2019–17 (Hezbollah cadre), August 8 2019, Beirut.37. Interview code: MSC2019–05 (Internal Security Forces official), July 29 2019, Beirut.38. Interview code: MSC2019–01 (policy analyst), 22 July 2019, Beirut.39. Interview code: MSC2019–10 (Hezbollah cadre), August 6 2019, Nabatieh.40. Levitt, ‘Hezbollah Finances’. Interview code: MSC2019–07 (investigative journalist), August 1 2019, Beirut.41. Interview code: MSC2019–16 (legal expert), 8 August 8 2019, Beirut.42. Interview code: MSC2020–02 (political analyst), 20 July 20 2020, Beirut.43. Interview code: MSC2019–15 (legal expert), 7 August 2019, Nabatieh.44. Interview code: MSC2020–03 (legal expert), July 21 2020, Beirut.45. Khatib, ‘How Hezbollah Holds Sway Over the Lebanese State’, p. 20.46. UNICEF, ‘Living on the Edge in Lebanon’.47. Interview code: MSC2020–06 (academic), 22 July 2020, Beirut.48. Interview code: MSC2020–10 (political analyst), July 27 2020, Beirut.49. Interview code: MSC2020–14 (civil society activist), November 30 2020, Beirut.50. Interview code: MSC2019–16 (legal expert), 8 August 8 2019, Beirut.51. Interview code: MSC2021–08 (investigative journalist), 18 November 2021, Baghdad.52. Interview code: MSC2021–08 (investigative journalist), 18 November 2021, Baghdad.53. Williams, ‘Organized Crime and Corruption in Iraq’; MSC2021–17 (legal expert), 25 November 2021, Baghdad.54. Interview code: MSC2021–07 (Iraqi Police official), 17 November 2021, Baghdad.55. Interview code: MSC2021–01 (academic), 14 November 2021, Baghdad. And Interview code: MSC2021–16 (political analyst), 25 November 2021, Baghdad.56. Interview code: MSC2021–18 (academic), 29 November 2021, Baghdad.57. Smith and Knights, ‘Remaking Iraq’.58. Interview code: MSC2021–17 (legal expert), 25 November 2021, Baghdad.59. Interview code: MSC2021–01 (academic), 14 November 2021, Baghdad.60. Interview code: MSC2021–11 (academic), 20 November 2021, Basra.61. Interview code: MSC2021–05 (political analyst), 16 November 2021, Baghdad; Interview code: MSC2021–07 (Iraqi Police official), 17 November 2021, Baghdad.62. Interview code: MSC2021–22 (political analyst), 2 December 2021, Khartoum (online interview).63. Interview code: MSC2021–29 (investigative journalist), 13 December 2021, Khartoum (online interview).64. Manfredi Firmian and Mirghani, ‘Can Sudan’s Democratic Transition Be Salvaged?’.65. Interview code: MSC2021–29 (investigative journalist), 13 December 2021, Khartoum (online interview).66. Interview code: MSC2021–21 (legal expert), 1 December 2021, Khartoum (online interview).67. Interview code: MSC2021–31 (RSF cadre), 14 December 2021, Khartoum (online interview). Interview code: MSC2022–3 (academic), 11 January 2022, Omdurman (online interview).68. Interview code: MSC2022–2 (NGO official), 10 January 2022, Khartoum (online interview).69. Interview code: MSC2021–28 (political analyst), 9 December 2021, Khartoum (online interview).70. International Crisis Group, ‘Reversing Sudan’s Dangerous Coup’.71. Ibid.72. Interview code: MSC2022–4 (political analyst), 12 January 2022, Khartoum (online interview).73. Interview code: MSC2022–8 (academic), 19 September 2022, Khartoum (online interview).Additional informationNotes on contributorsFederico Manfredi FirmianFederico Manfredi Firmian is a lecturer in political science at Sciences Po Paris and an Associate Research Fellow at the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI). He holds a Ph.D. in Political Geography from the Sorbonne and a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard. His research focuses on civil war and armed conflict in the greater Middle East region. He has published articles in Survival, Middle East Policy, Asian Affairs, World Policy Journal, the Modern War Institute at West Point, and ISPI.