Rethinking Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Programs

Jairo Munive ,Finn Stepputat

doi:10.5334/sta.go

Abstract

This article introduces the special issue on DDR and ‘Armed Non-Statutory Actors’ (ANSAs) which we prefer to the less precise label of Armed Non-State Actors. The understanding that disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programs are essential in helping to prevent the recurrence of war in post-conflict situations is at the heart of current peacebuilding practice and the academic literature on peacekeeping and stabilization. But the changing strategic context of DDR programs and in particular the proliferation of ANSAs presents new challenges, the responses to which have been characterized as ‘second generation’ DDR. The changing context poses new questions and forces us to rethink assumptions and templates of DDR as the concept is blurred and expanded. The question is if it makes sense to hold on to the concept or whether the assumptions associated with it will get in the way of rethinking templates for violence reduction in the future.

Highlights

National and international actors have used programs for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of combatants as standardized key elements of peace operations, with the aim of controlling violence and avoiding the resurgence of armed conflict.1 In the 1990s, international DDR programs were used mostly to deal with statutory and insurgent armies following peace accords to which the warring parties were signatories
We argue for the need to reconsider these assumptions and reach a better understanding of Armed Non-Statutory Actors’ (ANSAs) as well as the contexts they operate in, in order to conceive of alternative ways of dealing with ANSAs and reducing violence
Despite the abundant literature on lessons to be learned from previous DDR processes, there is little evidence that DDR programs produce all of the desired outcomes (Schulhofer and Sambanis 2010; Dudwick et al 2013)

Summary

RESEARCH ARTICLE

This article introduces the special issue on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and ‘Armed Non-Statutory Actors’ (ANSAs), whose title we prefer to the less precise label of Armed Non-State Actors. The understanding that DDR programs are essential in helping to prevent the recurrence of war in post-conflict situations is at the heart of current peacebuilding practice and the academic literature on peacekeeping and stabilization. The changing strategic context of DDR programs and in particular the proliferation of ANSAs presents new challenges, the responses to which have been characterized as ‘second generation’ DDR. The changing context poses new questions and forces us to rethink assumptions and templates of DDR as the concept is blurred and expanded. The main question is if it makes sense to hold on to the concept or whether the assumptions associated with it will impede the rethinking of templates for violence reduction in the future

Introduction

Conclusion