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Disentangling the Determinants of Successful Demobilization and Reintegration

Author: J Weinstein and M Humphreys
Date: 2005
Size: 30 pages (220 KB)

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Summary

Policy analysts have debated the organisational factors that contribute to successful disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programmes, but little is known about the factors that account for success at the micro level. What are the individual level determinants of successful demobilisation and reintegration? This research from the Centre for Global Development finds that an individuals’ prospects of gaining acceptance depends largely on the abusiveness of the unit in which he or she fought. There is no evidence that participation in internationally funded DDR programs improves an individual’s chance of acceptance by their families or communities.

The basic purpose of DDR is to re-establish a legitimate monopoly over the use of force by the government and return former fighters to civilian activities. In post-conflict situations where there is distrust and uncertainty such programs are fraught with complexity. The literature on ‘lessons learned’ from DDR programs is devoid of any micro-level data that might explain why some individuals and not others are able to reintegrate.

This study explores individual, group, and community level determinants of reintegration success and considers whether combatants have been accepted by their families, found employment, rejected their faction as a political actor and accepted the democratic process. The degree of acceptance by family and community is a key indicator of a combatant’s long-term prospect.

• There is little evidence that women or young people faced a significantly harder time gaining acceptance into civilian life after conflict.
• The most important determinant of whether an individual was accepted by family and community is the abusiveness of the unit in which he or she fought.
• There is weak evidence that individuals who settle in communities that suffered high levels of abuse during the war encounter more difficulty in gaining acceptance from family and friends.
• There is little evidence that participation in DDR programs increases the likelihood of acceptance. Non-participants do just as well in the post-war period. The findings suggest this is most likely because other factors are facilitating reintegration.

To design effective DDR programs that contribute to peace-building, we need rigorous research on the micro factors that explain why combatants reject their factional affiliations, reintegrate into the community and the economy and embrace the post-war political order.

• Specially targeted programs to help female combatants do not have a solid evidence base because in Sierra Leone women face no more difficulty reintegrating.
• Individual level factors like the combatants experience in the war matter more than the socio-economic characteristics of former combatants.
• Factors only measurable at the country level might be far more important in determining the path for reintegration.
• The design of DDR programs must employ methodologies that can account for selection effects that operate at the level of the individual directly. The best approach is the development of monitoring and evaluation systems that employ some degree of randomized intervention.

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Source: Weinstein, J., and Humphreys, M., 2005, 'Disentangling the Determinants of Successful Demobilization and Reintegration,' Center for Global Development, Working Paper Number 69, Massachusetts
Author: Center for Global Development, http://www.cgdev.org