Abstract
A key topic in social science is explaining why states are organized in very different ways with important consequences for economic prosperity. In this research we use the history of Colombian paramilitarism to advance a new hypothesis about it: the organization of the state fundamentally reflects the kinship structure of society. We lay out a model in which more central commanders within the networks of paramilitary groups elicit greater effort from their combatants, an effect that is complementary to recruiting more kin members (i.e., family). However, less delegation also leads to less specialized and hierarchical organizations, with ambiguous effects for war making. We test predictions using a unique time-varying dataset on the organizational networks and composition of these groups collected from transitional justice documents.