Demobilization And Reintegration Research Articles

Rethinking Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Programs

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.

Sowing Peace, Reaping Violence: Understanding the Resurgence of Kidnapping in Post-amnesty Niger Delta, Nigeria

Kidnapping for ransom has resurfaced in the oil-producing Niger Delta region of Nigeria where the state has since 2009 launched the most comprehensive and expensive peace-building policy in the nation’s history. Since 2009, about 30,000 fighters had been disarmed and demobilised and their reintegration is ongoing to both local and international acclaim. However, this study reveals that while the amnesty programme and its disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) corollary have drastically reduced direct confrontation between insurgents and state troops, the peace deal indirectly promotes further violence. Politicised peace building has transformed many youth who took to rebellion into millionaires to the envy of others who now resort to violent activities such as oil theft, sea piracy and ransom kidnapping. In addition, many of the initial grievances that led to conflict in the region, including socio-economic marginalisation, youth unemployment, relative poverty and environmental damage, still subsist and continue to propel violence. It is suggested that the state should accelerate massive infrastructure development that maximises benefits to Niger Delta communities rather than individuals, and reinvigorate basic services at the grass roots to minimise the incentives for violence.

Next Generation Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration

The process of disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating ex-soldiers at conflict’s end is as old as war itself. The results of these efforts are far from even. Even so, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) has assumed a central place in the imagination of the peace, security and development communities. It is frequently advanced as a key pillar of multilateral and bilateral stabilization and reconstruction efforts at war’s end. Yet, the contexts in which DDR is conducted are also changing. As the United Nations and others grapple with the new geographies of organized violence, it is hardly surprising that they are also adapting their approaches. Organizations operating in war zones (and also outside of them) are struggling to identify ways of ‘disengaging’ Al Shabaab in Somalia or northern Kenya, Jihadi fighters in Syria and Iraq, Taliban remnants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Boko Haram militia in Nigeria. There are increasingly complex legal and operational challenges for those involved in DDR about when, how and with whom to engage. In order to effectively engage with these dilemmas, this article considers the evolving form and character of DDR programs. In the process, it considers a host of opportunities and obstacles confronting scholars and practitioners in the twenty first century, offering insights on future trajectories.

Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Sequencing: A Systematic Review of Lessons Learned

Systematic Reviews are commonly used within the health sciences to identify all of the evidence that meets pre-defined criteria to answer a specific question. A systematic approach allows researchers to minimize bias by using a repeatable, systematic method. This paper applies this approach to the study of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) sequencing, to determine the optimal ordering of interventions. This study extracts lessons-learned from a reduced-set of sources that are qualitatively meta-summarized into groups and themes. The groups and themes are assigned an effect-size, and ranked accordingly. This study will conclude that sequencing plays an important, but not dominant, role in determining program success, with other factors relating to planning and funding exhibiting a larger impact on success. Further, there does not appear to be an optimal sequencing of interventions, as the local context determines what intervention will be needed and when. Lastly, the systematic review methodology, teamed with qualitative meta-summary, is shown to be a useful technique for synthesizing disparate sources into a whole.

Leaving Violence Behind: Disengaging from Politically Motivated Violence in Northern Ireland

This article explores the processes involved in leaving social movements or disengaging from terrorist activities by providing an analysis of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and Red Hand Commando (RHC) transformation away from politically motivated violence towards a civilian nonmilitary role. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed to gain an understanding of participant accounts of leaving violence behind and disengaging from terrorism. Analysis of the interview transcripts revealed the interplay of individual‐, organizational‐, and societal‐level processes in incentivizing and obstructing disengagement from politically motivated violence. The findings resonate with other case studies exploring the processes involved in disengagement from political violence among other terror groupings across the globe. The results are discussed in relation to a number of topics, including the implementation of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) in postconflict societies, the dynamic role of collective identity in the engagement in and disengagement from politically motivated violence, and the role of prison in shaping disengagement from politically motivated violence.

What Makes an Ex-Combatant Happy? A Micro-Analysis of Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration in South Sudan

Successful management of combatants through disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) remains one of the main challenges of post-conflict peacebuilding. While DDR is meant to contribute to a secure post-conflict environment conducive to economic and political development, the success of DDR efforts remains mixed. Unlike previous work focusing on procedural aspects or post-conflict reconstruction and development, we shift the focus to understand microlevel conditions—economic, security, and ethnic concerns—that influence ex-combatants' satisfaction with DDR. We argue that ex-combatant satisfaction with DDR should increase as individual-level economic conditions increase, as security situations improve, and as ethnic tensions decrease. We test our expectations using an original data set collected with field interviews and surveys from 122 ex-combatants in South Sudan in 2011–2012. We find that participants are more satisfied when their income-generating activity is based on DDR job training and when the UN has a large presence in their area. Concerns about political instability and an abundance of firearms make ex-combatants less satisfied with DDR.

Colombian Paramilitaries Since Demobilization: Between State Crackdown and Increased Violence

AbstractThis article addresses the puzzle of heterogeneous trends in paramilitary violence on the Colombian Pacific Coast since the beginning of the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) process in 2003. The usual explanations derived from political conflict theories are improved with insights from organized crime research. The article argues that the occasional escalation of post-DDR paramilitary violence at the subregional level cannot be explained by the weakness of the state argument. Instead, the article demonstrates the counterintuitive evidence that paramilitary violence correlates positively with the incidence of state repressive intervention against paramilitary groups. More specifically, paramilitaries challenged by the state use more violence, either to replace their nonviolent resources most affected by law enforcement activities or to respond to crackdown-related intensification of predatory tendencies within their respective organizations.

Bahasa

After signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Helsinki at August 15, 2005 between Government of Indonesia (GoI) and Free Aceh Movement / Gerakan Aceh Meredeka (GAM), are facilitated by Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) lead by Finland former president Martti Ahtisaari. As post conflict area, Aceh entering three phases of peacebuilding processes called Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR). Those the reintegration is the most challenging phase due to complexity and long term process. Regarding the importantly of reintegration process, unfortunately MoU did not put the gender base sensitivity as the part of decision making on peace agreement. Here is the reintegration program policies began with gender injustice against female ex-combatant who did not mentioned as a beneficiaries of reintegration program benefits. Those reality of gender injustice reintegration program had been initiated the establishment of Acehnese Women League/Liga Inong Aceh (LINA) on June 11, 2006 by Shadia Marhaban and some Acehnese women activists.

Reconciling reintegration: the complexity of economic and social reintegration of ex-combatants in Burundi.

The extent to which disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes initiated by state or multilateral agencies can realise the reintegration of ex-combatants remains debated. While some consider that DDR should have the ambition to result in long-term reintegration, others argue that DDR should focus on short-term goals. This paper explores experiences with the reintegration of ex-combatants in Burundi. It shows the interconnectedness of economic and social reintegration processes, and demonstrates that the reintegration of ex-combatants cannot be seen in isolation from the wider recovery and development context in which DDR is taking place. Moreover, the case demonstrates that reconciliation and social reintegration are deeply interconnected, to the extent that social reintegration may fail if reconciliation is not taken into account. Rather than a debate between long- and short-term goals, the focus should therefore be on increasing the understanding of reintegration processes and finding ways in which programmes can contribute to those.

Invisible Labour: The Political Economy of Reintegration in South Sudan

This article considers the 2005–12 Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme in South Sudan. Current DDR practice centres on ex-combatants' reintegration through encouraging entrepreneurship and self-employment and thereby their willingness to take risks and responsibility. However, South Sudan's DDR programme invisibilizes and obscures the ex-combatants' endogenous capacity to adapt and generate an income. Based on in-depth interviews with participants of the DDR programme and key stakeholders, the article argues that DDR interventions seldom capture the labour market experience of demobilized combatants. The article concludes that self-employment is the solution to the process of reintegration, empowerment and ultimately a key to statebuilding.

Reintegrating veterans in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia: Citizenship and gender effects

Synopsis This article explores the ways in which the 1991–1995 Yugoslav Wars and the policies of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) have affected gender relations and citizenship in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. DDR policies, and particularly the reintegration component, have come with a number of ‘side effects’. Rather than being a short-term solution to make combatants put down their weapons and become ‘normal’ citizens, they have valorised the citizen–soldier and created powerful identities and interest groups. Because this war was masculinised in both discourse and practice, this has resulted in highly gendered social citizenship, with the bulk of state resources now claimed by male war veterans. This study points to the need for greater contextualisation of any post-conflict policies. In the context of state- and nation-building, DDR policies are likely to become a tool of nationalist politics, entrenching hierarchical citizenship and hampering critical reflection about the conflict and militarised masculinity.

Does a more participatory approach to reintegrating ex-combatants lead to better outcomes? Evidence from Sierra Leone and Liberia

Programmes for the disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants are intended to support the peace process in which they are embedded. Yet their outcomes are not always clear. Calls for a more holistic approach with greater local ownership have often been made, but can be difficult to implement. This study of DDR in Sierra Leone and Liberia applies the concept of ‘participation’, which means genuinely involving intended beneficiaries in the process. It is based on semi-structured interviews with a range of stakeholders, and a survey and focus group discussions with ex-combatants. There is little indication of a participatory approach: ex-combatants reported serious problems with information, consultation and input into decision-making. However, where greater participation is seen, there are statistically significant associations with better outcomes in terms of work, economic status and community relations. The data illustrate how post-war social capital can be built up—or undermined—by the degree to which reintegration processes were participatory. Participation, social capital and loss of faith in the process are seen to be significant in the way DDR can contribute to the wider peace process.

Transformational Strategy or Gilded Pacification? Four Years On: The Niger Delta Armed Conflict and the DDR Process of the Nigerian Amnesty Programme

My central aim in this paper is to evaluate the outcomes of the amnesty programme established in mid-2009 by the Nigerian government as a way of resolving the groundswell of violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. In particular, I focus analytic attention on the planning and implementation of the Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) process of the amnesty. I argue that while the amnesty promotes non-killing alternatives to conflict resolution and opens a door for stabilisation, its current planning and implementation is flawed and unable to reduce the long-term potential for armed conflict in the Niger Delta. Far from been a transformational strategy, I argue that the amnesty programme has become a strategy of gilded pacification essentially targeted at buying off militants and re-establishing oil and gas production in the Niger Delta without addressing the multilayered causes of peacelessness in the region.

Bringing Them All Back Home: The Challenges of DDR and Transitional Justice in Contexts of Displacement in Rwanda and Uganda

This article engages with recent attempts to bridge the apparent divide between disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and transitional justice, and their implications for post-conflict environments characterized by large-scale displacement. Much of the literature on technical, institutional remedies to better coordinate DDR and transitional justice and respond effectively to displacement overlooks a series of theoretical and empirical challenges stemming from diffuse or decentralized conflict in the post-Cold War era. The article highlights these general problems by examining the cases of Rwanda and Uganda, neighbouring countries recovering from continuing cycles of mass conflict and forced displacement over the last two decades. Based on the author's interviews with over 1,000 respondents, it shows that attempts to coordinate DDR and transitional justice have been much more problematic in both countries than most commentators suggest. Greater recognition of the challenges of diffuse violence, and more careful policymaking by national and international actors, are required in the pursuit of lasting peace and security after mass conflict and displacement.

When Do Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Programs Succeed?

One of the key problems in post-war societies is the identification of schemes that convince former combatants to hand in their weapons and reintegrate into civil society. In an attempt to facilitate the transition from war to peace, Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programs have become key components of national and international efforts to pacify post-conflict societies. Assisting fighters to gain a foothold in civil society is thought to prevent their return to combat and in the long-run the re-outbreak of war. Analogous to sustained investments in DDR measures as well as to a noteworthy increase in the number and scope of such measures, a growing -- but still relatively small -- body of literature is attempting to catch up with these developments. In an effort to gather what we know about factors contributing to the success of DDR, this discussion paper provides a synthesis of the current literature. Even though emphasis is put on the emerging body of quantitative research, it also draws on reports of practitioners and in-depth case studies responding to two guiding questions: How effective are DDR programs? And which factors and circumstances contribute to or impede their success. Analytically this paper proposes to locate findings in literature on three levels of analysis: the macro level/context factors, meso level/program factors and micro level/individual level factors.

Dealing with Ex-Combatants in a Negotiated Peace Process: Impacts of Transitional Politics on the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Programme in Nepal

This paper investigates the implications of transitional politics to the processes and outcomes of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme targeted to the Maoist ex-combatants in Nepal. It shows that the DDR programme in Nepal was unconventional because of (a) following its own context-specific model developed outside of an established DDR framework, (b) being a process led by national actors in the absence of external intervention, and (c) offering no space for non-state actors such as civil society and business to engage in designing and implementing management of the Maoist arms and armies. Highly politicized by conflicting needs and interests of key political actors, the DDR programme was stalled for nearly six years before a resolution about the future of the ex-combatants was forged. Failure of the political actors to forge a common shared outcome of the DDR programme, lack of clarity in the peace negotiation document in terms of processes of rehabilitation and integration of the ex-combatants, and minimal political will of the Maoist to participate in the DDR programme have been identified as key political constrains that have significantly implicated and altered the modality, function and outcome of the DDR programme in Nepal.

Context Matters: The Conventional DDR Template is Challenged in South Sudan

The disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programme as implemented in South Sudan provides a perfect entry point to study the interaction between an international intervention and local contexts. The article describes and analyses the DDR programme in South Sudan as a set of practices that are at the core of international peacekeeping and yet are highly challenged by the specificities of local contexts. Consequently, programme results are far from what the international organizations involved expected from the outset, and the case is a vivid example of a lack of context-based approaches to peacebuilding. The article is based on fieldwork conducted among practitioners, project implementers and ex-combatants in South Sudan in 2012.

Women and wars

Boxes and Tables vi Abbreviations viii Contributors xiii Foreword by Cynthia Enloe xv Acknowledgments xvii 1 Women and Wars: Toward a Conceptual Framework 1 Carol Cohn 2 Women and the Political Economy of War 36 Angela Raven-Roberts 3 Sexual Violence and Women s Health in War 54 Pamela DeLargy 4 Women Forced to Flee: Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons 80 Wenona Giles 5 Women and Political Activism in the Face of War and Militarization 102 Carol Cohn and Ruth Jacobson 6 Women and State Military Forces 124 Jennifer G. Mathers 7 Women, Girls, and Non-State Armed Opposition Groups 146 Dyan Mazurana 8 Women and Peace Processes 169 Malathi de Alwis, Julie Mertus, and Tazreena Sajjad 9 Women, Girls, and Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) 194 Dyan Mazurana and Linda Eckerbom Cole 10 Women After Wars 215 Ruth Jacobson Notes 242 References 250 Index 279

HIV/AIDS Dimensions of Disarmament, Demobilization (DDR) and Security Sector Reform (SSR) Processes in Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Countries emerging from conflict situations face enormous social, economic, security and political challenges. Contemporary conflicts tend to lead to state and societal collapse, and are characterized by sexual violence and the destruction of fragile economies. Ensuring a safe and secure post-conflict environment for the pursuit of normal life is integral to post-war reconstruction and development processes, and post-conflict environments offer entry points for addressing both the origins and the effects of wars. Accordingly, this article argues that disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR), and security sector reform (SSR), provide important opportunities for incorporating HIV/AIDS issues into broader national security frameworks. Further, the article argues that securitizing HIV/AIDS can ensure that responses to the epidemic are prioritized, but also that the treatment of security personnel should not be privileged over treatment of those who are infected in the larger population.

Getting the Gunpowder Out of Their Heads: The Limits of Rights-Based DDR

The United Nations adopted an explicitly rights-based approach to disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) in 2006 as part of its larger agendas of "liberal peace building," integrated peace operations, and human rights mainstreaming. Rights-based DDR represents yet another example of how human rights discourse, law, and practice manage to penetrate adjacent domains—first the development, then humanitarian, and now security sectors. This article examines the development of rights-based DDR and looks at two key limitations. It concludes by recommending that DDR be rights-sensitive rather than rights-based.