Introduction

This chapter is devoted to an introduction to the process of the militarisation of behaviours. It is a mass process of social control employed by the state (and less often by non-state entities) where civilians are subjected to a treatment like that designed for soldiers. When this process is utilised, it leads sections of a society to be subdued to the will of the state officials. It can be a robust power-gaining mechanism used at the expense of the citizens. To build a framework to discuss this process, Ireland and Poland, the two states which are a part of the enquiry are introduced and initially compared. That is done to create a context for an analysis of the historical development of the twentieth-century criminal law in Poland and Ireland in the following two chapters. These two states, at first sight, might not have too much in common especially since both chose somewhat different paths to achieve the militarisation of behaviours. However, both Poland and Ireland promote individualism, self-determinism, and individual agency and it is easier to introduce the militarisation of behaviours in countries supporting these values.