Includes bibliographical references and index.

Ordinary Soldiers, Ordinary Times -- How State Toleration Transforms Armed Groups -- "To them, it's just a job" : Mobilization in Nagalim -- Pushed to the Edges : Mobilization in Manipur and Assam -- "Fighting for freedom, not entertainment" : Mobilization in Tamil Eelam -- "They are doing something for the nation" : Moderates and Extremists in Nagalim -- Pro-Talk vs. Anti-Talk Militants in Assam and Manipur -- "The Tigers are the best bodyguards" : Moderates and Extremists in Tamil Eelam -- Lessons for Armed Politics.

"For most scholars and practitioners, armed groups bring to mind the sound and fury of warfare: ISIS sweeping across Northern Iraq, Chechen rebels fending off Russian security forces, or Maoist insurgents overthrowing the Nepalese monarchy. Just as often, however, militant groups--even those with explicitly anti-state goals--operate under far more mundane conditions, their activities begrudgingly tolerated by government forces. While some are still called rebels, others are called militias, militants, self-defense organizations, warlords, or local security providers. Some have signed long-term ceasefires with the government yet never disarmed; others muddle through decades of simmering low-level conflict; still others are treated as nuisances to be managed rather than threats to be defeated. Just because guns are silent, however, does not mean that they are unimportant. Non-state armed groups play a dizzying array of political roles even when they are not fighting the state, leveraging the threat of force for political, social, and economic power. In the Philippines, Moro Muslim separatists have spent years negotiating with the government to secure local self-determination, utilizing military strength even as active hostilities are paused. In Azerbaijan, ethnic Armenian separatists have run a de facto independent state, complete with fully-functioning judiciary, social services, and professional military, while conflict stalled for decades only to flare up again in recent times"-- Provided by publisher.