Table Of ContentSeries Editor: Oliver P. Richmond, Professor, School of International Relations,
University of St. Andrews, UK
Editorial Board: Roland Bleiker, University of Queensland, Australia; Henry
F. Carey, Georgia State University, USA; Costas Constantinou, University of
Keele, UK; A.J.R. Groom, University of Kent, UK; Vivienne Jabri, King’s
College London, UK; Edward Newman, University of Birmingham ,UK;
Sorpong Peou, Sophia University, Japan; Caroline Kennedy-Pipe, University
of Sheffield, UK; Professor Michael Pugh, University of Bradford, UK;
Chandra Sriram, University of East London, UK; Ian Taylor, University of
St. Andrews, UK; Alison Watson, University of St. Andrews, UK; R.B.J. Walker,
University of Victoria, Canada; Andrew Williams, University of St. Andrews,
UK.
Titles include:
Sofia Sebastián Aparicio
POST-WAR STATEBUILDING AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN DIVIDED
SOCIETIES
Beyond Dayton in Bosnia
Roland Bleiker
AESTHETICS AND WORLD POLITICS
Thushara Dibley
PARTNERSHIPS, POWER AND PEACEBUILDING
NGOs as Agents of Peace in Aceh and Timor-Leste
Claire Duncanson
FORCES FOR GOOD?
Military Masculinities and Peacebuilding in Afghanistan and Iraq
Kirsten Fisher
TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE FOR CHILD SOLDIERS
Accountability and Social Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Contexts
Daria Isachenko
THE MAKING OF INFORMAL STATES
Statebuilding in Northern Cyprus and Transdniestria
Stefanie Kappler
LOCAL AGENCY AND PEACEBUILDING
EU and International Engagement in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cyprus and South
Africa
Roger Mac Ginty
INTERNATIONAL PEACEBUILDING AND LOCAL RESISTANCE
Hybrid Forms of Peace
Sara McDowell and Maire Braniff
COMMEMORATION AS CONFLICT
Space, Memory and Identity in Peace Processes
SM Farid Mirbagheri
WAR AND PEACE IN ISLAM
A Critique of Islamic/ist Political Discourses
Audra L. Mitchell
LOST IN TRANSFORMATION
Violent Peace and Peaceful Conflict in Northern Ireland
Frank Möller
VISUAL PEACE
Images, Spectatorship and the Politics of Violence
Chavanne L. Peercy
LOCAL LEADERSHIP IN DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION
Michael Pugh
LIBERAL INTERNATIONALISM
The Interwar Movement for Peace in Britain
Oliver P. Richmond and Audra Mitchell (editors)
HYBRID FORMS OF PEACE
From Everyday Agency to Post-Liberalism
Amaia Sánchez-Cacicedo
BUILDING STATES, BUILDING PEACE
Global and Regional Involvement in Sri Lanka and Myanmar
Emil Souleimanov
UNDERSTANDING ETHNOPOLITICAL CONFLICT
Karabakh, South Ossetia and Abkhazia Wars Reconsidered
Lynn M. Tesser
ETHNIC CLEANSING AND THE EUROPEAN UNION
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Security, Memory, and Ethnography
Mandy Turner and Omar Shweiki (editors)
DECOLONISING PALESTINIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY
De-development and Beyond
Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies
Series Standing Order ISBN 978-1-4039-9575-9 (hardback) & 978-1-4039-9576-6
(paperback)
You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing
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Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Reintegration of
Ex-Combatants After
Conflict
Participatory Approaches in Sierra Leone
and Liberia
Walt Kilroy
Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction,
Dublin City University, Ireland
© Walt Kilroy 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-42898-1
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified
as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Palgrave is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has
companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-137-68252-2 ISBN 978-1-137-42899-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-42899-8
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing
processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the
country of origin.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kilroy, Walt, 1962–
Reintegration of ex-combatants after conflict: participatory approaches in
Sierra Leone and Liberia / Walt Kilroy, Associate Director of the Institute for
International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction, Dublin City University,
Ireland.
pages cm. – (Rethinking peace and conflict studies)
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Sierra Leone–History–Civil War, 1991-2002–Peace.
2. Liberia–History–Civil War, 1999-2003–Peace. 3. Sierra Leone–Armed
Forces–Demobilization. 4. Liberia–Armed Forces–Demobilization.
5. Veterans–Sierra Leone–Social conditions. 6. Veterans–Liberia–Social
conditions. 7. Soldiers–Rehabilitation–Sierra Leone. 8. Soldiers–
Rehabilitation–Liberia. I. Title.
DT516.826.K55 2015
966.4’0441–dc23
2015001002
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
Acknowledgements ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Chapter 1 Does It Matter How Ex-Combatants are 1
Reintegrated After War?
How DDR emerged 4
Peacebuilding and DDR 18
Participation 21
Participation and DDR 37
Social capital 43
Conclusion 49
Chapter 2 The Context in Sierra Leone and Liberia 51
Sierra Leone’s experience 51
Liberia’s experience 53
Starting point for the research 55
Case selection 59
Field work 61
Qualitative data analysis: Focus groups 70
Quantitative analysis: Survey 71
Chapter 3 Learning Your Fate: What Ex-Combatants Knew 73
about the Reintegration Process
Receiving information about DDR 74
Accuracy 79
Conclusions 106
Chapter 4 Having a Say in the Reintegration Process and 109
Shared Decision-Making
Being asked for an opinion 111
Being heard 111
Having an influence on decisions 120
Making choices within DDR 128
Suggested improvements 134
Views of agencies and staff implementing DDR 140
Conclusions 141
v
vi Contents
Chapter 5 The Effects of a More Participatory Approach: 146
Quantitative Measures
Operationalisation of concepts 146
Disaggregation of data: Differences between countries 149
Disaggregation of data: Urban-rural difference in Liberia 149
Links between participatory indicators and programme 152
outcomes
Endogeneity 161
Conclusions 163
Chapter 6 The Effects of a More Participatory Approach: 166
Qualitative Measures
School and education 167
Stipends 168
Training 171
Corruption 183
Livelihoods 192
What elements were participatory? 194
Conclusions 198
Chapter 7 Conclusion: Why Does a Participatory Approach 203
Matter?
Participation as a lens for analysing reintegration 203
How participatory was reintegration? 204
Effects of participation 209
Social capital 211
Is participation possible in DDR? 218
Future research 222
Conclusion 223
Appendix I: Translation of Survey Questions into Variables 225
Notes 229
Bibliography 233
Dates and Locations of Focus Group Discussions 243
Index 244
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
0.1 Representation of the word frequencies in focus group xiii
transcripts
1.1 Flow-chart for analysing problems relating to participation 35
3.1 How much information was provided by various sources 77
(Liberia)
3.2 Amount, accessibility, and accuracy of language used 78
3.3 Discrepancies between what ex-combatants feel was 80
promised and what was delivered
3.4 How would ex-combatants include people, if asked to 100
run a DDR programme?
4.1 Who asked you for your opinion during reintegration? 112
4.2 Were your views listened to? 112
4.3 Did the people running the programme know your needs? 114
4.4 Did what you say have any effect? 121
5.1 Predicted probability of work status 157
5.2 Four measures of information received as a test of 162
endogeneity
7.1 From reintegration to peacebuilding, mediated by 211
participation and social capital
Tables
1.1 Pretty’s typology of participation: How people participate 26
in development programmes
2.1 Ongoing DDR programmes in 2006 60
5.1 Differences between Sierra Leone and Liberia in survey 150
results
5.2 Association between participatory and outcome variables 153
(Sierra Leone)
5.3 Association between participatory and outcome variables 154
(rural Liberia)
5.4 Association between participatory variables and official 156
advice
vii
viii List of Figures and Tables
5.5 Association between participatory variables and being 157
asked for one’s opinion
5.6 Association between participatory variables and what 158
one said having any effect
5.7 Association between participatory variables and whether 159
reintegration was explained
5.8 Association between participatory variables and whether 160
enough information was provided
5.9 Association between participatory variables and whether 160
the information was accurate
6.1 References in focus groups to problems with stipends 169
Acknowledgements
If it takes a village to raise a child, this book has been nurtured by a
wide network of villages across a few continents. To try to thank all
those involved is a humbling task. None of this would have been poss-
ible, of course, without the help, openness and honesty of all those
whose stories I have tried to include here in some way. It was both a
privilege and a responsibility to hear these accounts, wherever we
talked – whether it was through survey instruments, focus groups,
interviews, or personal conversations. This book is dedicated to all
those involved in building a future for Sierra Leone and Liberia, be
they former combatants, community members, or otherwise engaged
in the enormous and complex task of reconstruction and development.
My time in these countries was made fascinating and fruitful by
many people, who are too numerous to mention. The research as-
sistants and translators who worked with me and guided me include
some very fine people who give me great hope for the future: Lynton
Jones, Prince Scott, Marcus Jones, Samuel Kpanbayeazee Duworko,
Santo Gonzeh, and Gonyeyee Bartuah. So many others in NGOs, com-
munity groups, and agencies helped in countless ways.
Trócaire’s staff were generous with their time, expertise, and vision,
as always, including Aongus O’Keeffe in Sierra Leone, Róisin Gallagher
and Liam Gilmore in Liberia, and Mark Cumming in Maynooth. The
organisation’s practical support and its interest in the project were
invaluable.
The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice in Dublin, which provided a
three-year doctoral Solidarity Scholarship, was fundamental in seeing
this project through. It was not just the financial and practical support,
but also the belief in the project which mattered. The friendship and
animated debates in the kitchen did more to retain my sanity than
might have been apparent. My thanks go to Tony O’Riordan SJ and all
the others at the Centre.
I am grateful also to the Irish Research Council for the award of a
Postdoctoral Fellowship, to help turn my research into publications,
including this book, and to Dublin City University (DCU) for its
financial support. Also in DCU, my PhD supervisor, Prof John Doyle,
provided the kind of support and encouragement on so many levels
which most doctoral students can only dream of. I have been lucky to
ix
