State within a state

State within a state (also Latin: imperium in imperio or status in statu) is a political situation in a country when an internal organ, generally from the armed forces, intelligence agencies or police, does not respond to the civilian leadership.

Sometimes, the term refers to state companies that, though formally under the command of the government, act de facto like private corporations. Sometimes, the term refers to companies that, though formally private, act de facto like "states within a state".

Certain political debates surrounding the separation of Church and State revolve around the perception that if left unchecked, the Church might turn into a kind of State within a State, an illegitimate outgrowth of the State's natural civil power.

Imperium in imperio was also the first state motto of Ohio, reflecting its great size and influence within the early United States.^{[citation needed]}

Alleged cases of “state within a state”

• Nazi Germany's Schutzstaffel
• Weimar Republic's Reichswehr
• Francoist Spain's military forces
• Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
• Cameroon's Cameroon Development Corporation
• British Guiana's Booker-McConnell
• Lebanon's PLO (see PLO in Lebanon).
• Lebanon's Hezbollah.
• Ivan the Terrible's oprichnina
• Islamic Emirate of Waziristan
• Turkey's "Deep State"
• South Vietnam's-ARVN
• Iran's IRGC
• PDVSA in pre-Chávez Venezuela

See also

• Deep state
• Civilian control of the military
• Monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force

Contrast:

• Fifth column