Naval postgraduate school monterey, california thesis approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Comparative Sociology 46 (April-May 2005): 25. The Encarta Dictionary gives three, defining militias as 
“soldiers who are civilians; an army of soldiers who are civilians but take military training and can serve 
full time during emergencies,” and as a “reserve military force; a reserve army that is not part of the regular 
armed forces but that can be called up in an emergency.” The third definition is most relevant: 
“unauthorized quasi military group; an unauthorized group of people who arm themselves and conduct 
quasi-military training.” Other definitions of the term militia include Tartar defining militias as “a fighting 
force that has no loyalty to a state, in contrast to armies or police, which are controlled by a government,” 
adding that V. I. Lenin had defined a civilian militia as a “self-acting, armed organization of the 
population.” Tilly calls them “anti-governmental [groups that] maintain enduring organizations of coercive 
specialists and exercise terror within their base territories.” 
21
“Iraq: Militia Groups,” in Council on Foreign Relations [database online]. Washington D.C. June 9, 
2005 [cited 2007]. Available from http://www.cfr.org/publication/8175/. In the view of this thesis, 
legitimacy from Iraq’s government is the primary causal factor that makes militias the most powerful force 
in Iraq. Why should a militia disarm and dissolve if they are officially or unofficially recognized by the 
ruling political party, especially since it is possible that disarming might create more negative long term 
consequences?
22
“Iraq: Militia Groups. 

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defense of local families, tribes, and clans that have historically been victims of 
discrimination and persecution in Iraq. This makes them fundamentally different from 
insurgencies and criminal organizations. After the invasion in 2003 U.S. military units 
were incapable of establishing a presence everywhere, and Shia militias were employed 
to “organize security, suppress looting and restore basic services.”
23
They emerged at a 
time when the local populace lacked state services and established regional peace and 
stability by negotiating with representative at the provincial level responsible for 
implementing state rule.
24
This led to accommodation between the militias and those 
charged with implementing state policy.
25
Not only do militias provide a level of social 
stability, economic support to the community, and security for local neighborhoods, they 
also provide incentives for the local population to join the militia, thus cementing their 
position in Shia society. According to Crenshaw, “incentives [include] a variety of 
individual needs: to belong to a group, to acquire social status, and reputation, to find 
comradeship or excitement, or to gain material benefits.”
26
Thus, militias aspire to regional political autonomy in order to acquire national 
power. Unlike criminals and insurgents, militias mobilize the local populace through 
tribal, family, and religious ties that were developed over generations, through their 
acceptance as a quasi-official group that is loosely allied with the state and their ability to 
serve as protectors of the local population when battling an occupation force. They are 
imbued with a certain level of legitimacy both by the people and by the current 
23
“Behind Iraq’s Moqtada Intifada,” in Time Incorporated [database online]. New York, New York 
April 5, 2004 [cited 2007]. Available from 
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,608113,00.html
(accessed March 5, 2007). 
24
Liam Anderson and Gareth Stansfield, The Future of Iraq: Dictatorship, Democracy, or Division? 
1sted. (New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 127, 133, 135. Historically they have served an 
important purpose of defense against internal threats and external threats. Internal threats include the Baath 
party that systematically marginalized the Shia population through executions, imprisonment, torture, and 
censorship of fundamental religious ideology. During the late 1980’s the Shia militia’s prevented 
government forces from entering the Shia slum of Sadr City (formerly known as Saddam City) which 
facilitated the idea of opposition towards the minority-ruling Baath party. Shia militias have also served as 
protection from external threats such as the Iranians during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and as far back as 
the colonial occupation of the British in the 1920s. 
25
Joel S. Migdal, Strong Societies and Weak States: State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in