Death squads have become an increasingly common feature of the modern world. This study examines why so many regimes, under varying circumstances, condone such activity, explaining not only their development, but also why they can be expected to continue proliferating into the 21st century.

Death Squads: Definition, Problems, and Historical Context; B.B.Campbell PART I: HISTORICAL CASES 'To Induce a Sense of Terror': Caudillo Politics and Political Violence in Northern Nicaragua, 1926-1934 and 1981-1995; M.J.Schroeder Feme Murder: Paramilitary 'Self Justice' in Weimar Germany; A.D.Brenner PART II: DEMOCRATIC REGIME TRANSITIONS Window on the Past: A Declassified History of Death Squads in El Salvador; C.J.Arnson Stage of Siege: Political Violence and Vigilante Mobilization in the Philippines; E.Hedman PART III: SOCIAL CONTROL State Terrorism and Death Squads in Uganda (1971-79); E.Kannyo From Petrus to Ninja: Death Squads in Indonesia; R.Cribb Modernity and Devolution: The Making of Police Death Squads in Modern Brazil; M.K.Huggins PART IV: NATIONAL, ETHNIC, AND RELIGIOUS IDENTITY CONFLICT The Rise and Fall of Apartheid's Death Squads, 1963-1993; K.Gottschalk India's Secret Armies; P.Gossman Territoriality and Plausible Deniability: Serbian Paramilitaries in the Bosnian War; J.Ron Appendix: Other Death Squad Cases About the Contributors