R.Y. Belkovich The institute of people’s militia in U.S. political tradition

Abstract: Resistance towards a centralized power is one of the most prominent trends in the history of U.S. political thought. The necessity for this resistance, however, isn’t always promoted by the more “progressive” and revolutionary schools of thought.The debate over tyranny and civilian resistance is no less significant for followers of the more conservative views on the society and the state in the U.S.This research studies the people’s militia movement (militia), the representatives of which oppose the increase of central government’s power, and support the classic republic tradition. The ideology of the people’s militia is closely connected to antique and medieval views of the individual and their place in society’s political structure, which were left behind in the modern liberal political discourse. Without overstepping the borders of Constitution, the militia supporters empathize on the lost social order, which they think is still possible to rediscover. The militia movement represents a deeply conservative layer of political and cultural consciousness of the U.S.

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