Pro-Government Militias Homepage

This dataset contains information about organised armed groups that are identified by documentary, media, and other open sources to be pro-government but are not part of the state's regular security forces.  Consistency across sources is checked, but no further claims are made about the accuracy of this information. 

The information covers the period from 1981 to 2007 across all countries, and is not limited to ongoing conflicts. The main unit of observation is the pro-government militia. The dataset is part of a wider project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The associated research will focus on the ways in which governments use these informal groups or militias, their origins and termination. The dataset will allow researchers to more accurately study how these groups affect the outbreak, duration and nature of conflicts and the likelihood of a successful peace agreement following conflict.  

Dataset Highlights:

• Locates pro-government militias
• Spans from 1981 to 2007
• Covers most countries
• Identifies links between groups and governments
• Tracks groups over time 

Read more about the Project:

• Article in HERO: 'Atrocity by Proxy'.
• Article in Exchange, University of Nottingham, January 2007: 'Tracking the Militias'.
• Press release, University of Aberdeen, February 2008: 'Pro-government Militias unmasked by New Research'.

Recent Conference:

Pro-Government Armed Groups and Militas: Incidence, Impact and Government Accountability
University of Nottingham, 9-10 July 2009

Content last modified: 22nd March 2010 08:35:03