This paper deals with the development und the current state of vigilantism in East Central Europe. The author analyses the strategic impact of various types of vigilant formations in this geopolitical area in modern history and the current era. The legacy of pre-war and wartime era as well as ethnic tensions in the 1990s are analysed. The ideological background, historical legacies and foreign links of important groupings are described. The strategy of the use of these grouping is explained from a broader perspective, including an analysis of the influence of the so called Roma question in public discourse, immigration crisis or Russian imperial ambitions. While some of these formations serve only as a subcultural free time activity, others are incorporated into the strategies of political marketing and some of them can be assessed as instruments of contemporary hybrid warfare. The author identifies and categorises subcultural groupings, non-state guards, party militias and paramilitary and combat formations.
