ABSTRACT

This book explores the conditions under which non-state armed groups (NSAGs) participate in post-war security and political governance.

The text offers a comprehensive approach to post-war security transition processes based on five years of participatory research with local experts and representatives of former non-state armed groups. It analyses the successes and limits of peace negotiations, demobilisation, arms management, political or security sector integration, socio-economic reintegration and state reform from the direct point of view of conflict stakeholders who have been central participants in ongoing and past peacebuilding processes.

Challenging common perceptions of ex-combatants as "spoilers" or "passive recipients of aid", the various contributors examine the post-war transitions of these individuals from state challengers to peacebuilding agents. The book concludes on a cross-country comparative analysis of the main research findings and the ways in which they may facilitate a participatory, inclusive and gender-sensitive peacebuilding strategy.

Post-War Security Transitions will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, security governance, war and conflict studies, political violence and IR in general.

part |26 pages

Post-war security promotion

chapter |13 pages

DDR and SSR

Conventional approaches to international peacebuilding assistance

part |19 pages

Colombia

chapter |17 pages

The M19's reinsertion process

Challenges and lessons learnt

part |16 pages

El Salvador

chapter |14 pages

The guarantees of security

The FMLN and the Salvadoran peace process

part |16 pages

Kosovo

part |21 pages

Burundi

chapter |17 pages

The process of security transition in Burundi

Challenges in security sector reform and combatant integration

part |29 pages

Aceh

chapter |11 pages

Guns, soldiers and votes

Lessons from the DDR process in Aceh

chapter |14 pages

The reintegration of ex-combatants in post-war Aceh

Remaining challenges to a gender-blind planning and implementation process

part |22 pages

Nepal

part |41 pages

Comparative analysis and lessons learnt