How Wartime Bonds Affect Ex-Combatant Political Attitudes
A Natural Experiment with the Farc
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4087641 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Samaneh Sharif (0000-0002-4021-018X, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1106-1125 |
| Publication date | 2023-07-04 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Terrorism and Political Violence (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0954-6553 • E-ISSN: 1556-1836 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09546553.2021.2017895 |
| OpenAlex | W4214565924 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
What determines political attitudes of ex-combatant after conflict, specifically the inclination towards rearmament? And to what extent do these attitudes depend on ex-combatants’ individual profiles? I argue that ex-combatant political attitudes are determined by whether wartime bonds are maintained after conflict. The argument indirectly implies that the impact of individual characteristics, such as gender, age, education, time in conflict, and family relations, fade in the face of group-level factors determined both during and after conflict. The argument highlights the challenge of post-conflict peacebuilding, where keeping intact the organizational structure of rebel groups might lead to peace but discourage reintegration into the country’s political (non-rebel) institutions. The Colombian Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program’s design with a long demobilization process in camps lends itself to a natural experiment to distinguish community effects from individual-level influencers of ex-combatant political attitudes. Relying on data I have collected through 121 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with FARC ex-combatants residing in five ETCR, I find ex-combatants that have maintained their primary group cohesion in the post-conflict era have stronger secondary group cohesion, more favorable attitudes towards DDR, and less enthusiasm towards rearming. However, they have less trust in the government
Combatant · Demobilization · Disarmament · Peacebuilding · Political opportunity · Political science · Politics · Social movement · Sociology · Law · Peacebuilding and International Security · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Psychology · Social Psychology
The Politics of Risking Peace Revisited
Territorial consolidation after rebel victory
Can the Rebel Body Function without its Visible Heads? The Role of Mid-Level Commanders in Peacebuilding
Delegative peacebuilding
When reintegration of ex-combatants turns deadly
Rebel victory and constitutional change
Even Better Than the Real Thing? Measuring the Multidimensional Reintegration of Graduated Ex-Combatants in Colombia
Why do Armed Groups Return to War after Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration? Introducing the DDR-40 Dataset (1980–2020)
Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration in peace agreements (1975-2021)
| Citations per year | 2.25 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |