paramilitary forces
Armed civilian groups
Paramilitary forces are armed groups organized along military lines but not part of a country's official armed forces.
They may be government-sponsored auxiliaries, militias, or insurgent groups: The regime deployed paramilitary forces to suppress the uprising.
The term often carries sinister connotations—death squads, vigilantes, or deniable assets operating outside normal military accountability.
- gendarmerieMilitary unit doing police work
- guerrillasIrregular combatants, unconventional warfare
- private armyArmed force serving one master
- militiaNon-professional armed force
- warlordsMilitary leaders controlling regions
secret police · vigilantes · black ops · night raids · mercenaries · border patrol · special forces · coast guard · asymmetric warfare · civil war · death squads · insurgents · reserve forces · riot police · junta · irregular forces · nationalist movements · armed
- military tacticstactics, flanking, maneuver, ambush, battle formations
paramilitary forcesregular army
Nation's permanent military force
standing army · armed forces · conventional forces · defense forces · professional army
paramilitary forcescivilian population
noncombatants · civil society · diplomatic corps · humanitarian workers · peace activists