The Wartime Roots of Rural Governance: Militias’ Evolving Roles in Post-Conflict Peru

Under what conditions can militias enhance governance in post-conflict settings? Drawing on nine months of fieldwork in rural Peru, this paper develops a theoretical framework to explain militias’ varied post-civil war trajectories, focusing on their wartime relationships with the military and local communities. I argue that militias with autonomy from the military and strong community ties are more likely to persist and strengthen post-war rural governance. By protecting communities from civil war violence, these militias earn social legitimacy and become institutionalized, prompting their members and local villagers to repurpose them for post-conflict governance roles—an overlooked yet essential trajectory for militias in post-conflict settings. To substantiate my argument, I conduct a comparative historical analysis in Peru’s rural periphery using multiple site-intensive methods, including interviews, archival work, and participant observation. The paper offers insights into the historical legacies of violence, institutional change, and governance in areas with minimal state presence.