ABSTRACT
This book has argued that while soldiers do the work of political violence in a political crisis-ridden country, the state has to work hard to mobilise soldiers into a particular political ideology. While upon joining the military, soldiers view it as work, political actors see them as a support base for their political party. However, in mobilising soldiers the state punishes those who disobey political orders from their political commanders and reward those who obey such orders. The forms of punishment vary from detention to demotion over which the political commanders preside over. It is the same political commanders who oversee, recommend, and approve the promotion of those who obey political commands. In this regard army desertion is presented as a way of responding to the political ordering of soldiers in the barracks.
