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2 War Crimes Genocide & Crimes against Human. 1 (2006)

handle is hein.journals/warcrim2 and id is 1 raw text is: War Crimes, Genocide, & Crimes against Humanity Volume 2 (2006): 1-33 Militias and Genocide* Alex Alvarez Northern Arizona University Abstract This paper comprises a discussion of the role of paramilitary groups, such as militias, in perpetrating genocide. The reliance of many states upon paramilitary style units poses some potentially important questions about the nature of genocide and other human rights violations as well as the governments that create and unleash them. After briefly defining these groups, I specifically explore the reasons why genocidal states rely so heavily on paramilitary militia groups when they already have military and police forces available. Using Arkan's Tigers and the Rwandan Interahamwe militia groups as examples, I explore the nature and functioning of these groups as well *Alex Alvarez is an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona University. He is the founding director of the Martin-Springer Institute for Teaching the Holocaust, Tolerance and Humanitarian Values. His main areas of study have been in the areas of minorities, crime, and criminal justice, and the areas of collective and interpersonal violence. His first book, Government, Citizens, and Genocide, was published by Indiana Press in 2001 and was a nominee for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences book of the year award in 2002 as well as a Raphael Lemkin book award nominee from the International Association of Genocide Scholars Book in 2003.