Resume
PARAMILITARISM AS A SECURITY THREAT FOR THE CZECH REPUBLIC
MAREŠ, Miroslav:
Contemporary paramilitarism in some forms poses a specific security threat, especially if it is carried out by right wing extremist organizations. There are various forms of contemporary non-state paramilitarism in Europe. In the Balkan and in the post-Soviet area paramilitary units got involved in local military conflicts and their members are trying to have impact on political life. In Eastern Central Europe the main goal of the extreme right paramilitary units is vigilantism against Roma communities. A new trend is the creation of paramilitary units with the aim to make political parties more popular. For example, the Hungarian party Jobbik was successful in European elections 2009, after the foundation of its Hungarian Guard in 2007. In the Czech lands paramilitary units have traditions from the first and second Czechoslovak Republic and from the Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia. A new era of their development started in the 1990´s. Recently the most important paramilitary unit in the Czech Republic are the Protection Corps of the Worker´s Party. On the other hand, the activity of the National Guard of the National Party is very limited. The extreme right paramilitary units are a challenge to the Czech law. Armed party units and associations are banned. However, the legal regulation of organized vigilantism is unclear. The extreme right paramilitary vigilantism will pose a security threat in the Czech Republic also in the future, especially if ethnic tensions become more radical.