Resume
Voluntary Activities with Safety Goals
Mgr. Michal Kučera, doc. JUDr. PhDr. Miroslav Mareš, Ph.D.
This article deals with the issue of voluntary civil groups which are organized in order to ensure their own security. It was prepared under the grant project GACR GA407/09/0100 “Contemporary paramilitarismus in the Czech Republic in the context of transnational developments of the political violence in Europe.” The text is focused on the construction of four model types of voluntary civil groups. These models are Vigilantism, Self-defence groups, Neighbourhood watch, all three within covering category of Informal policing, and Militias. While Vigilantism, Neighbourhood watch and Militias are constructed on the basis of existing theories and typologies, Self-defence groups is newly developed type comprising cases which have been misdefined, thus categorized into wrong type, or have been moving in “theoretical vacuum”. Furthermore, all types are categorized and defined by the help of basic framework which comprises six or seven general characteristic features which take into account level of planning, level of voluntariness, level of autonomy, level of violence, level of respect for institutionalized norms, basic goals, territorial limitation.
Keywords: informal policing, vigilantism, neighbourhood watch. self-defence groups, militka.