On 28 August, ARK hosted a seminar to launch a working paper highlighting the three main features that define paramilitarism in contemporary Northern Ireland - Legitimacy, Utility and Threat. These key features are consistent, although they have manifested differently over time. Written by Brendan Sturgeon, Duncan Morrow, Lucy Geddes, Dominic Bryan, Siobhán McAlister, Claire Hazelden and Peter Sheridan, the paper provides a simple way of understanding a set of complex social practices.