State resources, including armies of public servants and over 1, 000 buses, were dragooned into service.

ECONOMIST: Sri Lanka's election

When, in 1919, Ataturk set out to turn Asia Minor into a modern nation state, he was opposed not only by the Allied armies which had occupied important bits of it, but also by the imperial government that employed him.

ECONOMIST: Turkish history (1)

It will not come easily to armies who believe themselves to be the defenders of a unified state.

ECONOMIST: Making peace in the Philippines

The Meqdads, like several other Shiite clans that hail from Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, maintain virtual private armies and have long had a troubled relationship with the Lebanese state, as well as with the country's two most powerful and organized Shiite militia and political parties, Hezbollah and the Amal movement.

WSJ: Syria Sends Shocks Through Lebanon, Mideast

It had issued a decree sacking the Bihar state government for its failure to stem the slaughter of low-caste labourers by private armies of landowners, and imposed direct rule from Delhi.

ECONOMIST: India