Mobilisation for Political Violence: What Do We Know?

A CRISE Workshop

Oxford Department of International Development

17 - 18 March 2009

A major issue arising out of CRISE work is what motivates participants, at the micro-level, to support or join organisations committed to violence. CRISE therefore convened a two-day workshop to explore various aspects of violent political mobilisation and rebellion-making dynamics.

Micro-level investigations into political violence have been expanding in recent years. Fine-grained case studies have flourished, depicting the sociological profiles and motivations of combatants, the recruitment strategies and internal behavioural norms of violent organisations and the relations between combatants and noncombatants in conflict-affected zones. Mapping out the results of the rich case studies now available, discussing the possibilities of generalising their findings into wider analytical frameworks and exploring new avenues for research constituted the bulk of our workshop’s programme. The workshop also examined policy-related issues which could help in the design of demobilisation programmes or stop political economies of war being perpetuated. Contributions drew on research in Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru.

The workshop comprised the following sessions:

Session 1: The Dynamics of Armed Groups
Session 2: The Motivations of Individual Combatants: Who Joins and Why
Session 3: The Motivations of Individual Combatants: A Gender Perspective
Session 4: Understanding Youth Mobilisation
Session 5: Nationalism, Religion, Ethnicity and Political Violence
Session 6: Rebels and Civilians
Session 7: Why Doesn't Peace Last?
Closing Session: Concluding Remarks and Further Steps

Abstracts

Ana M. Arjona and Stathis N. Kalyvas	Yale University	Rebelling against rebellion: comparing insurgent and counterinsurgent recruitment Summary
Francisco Gutierrez	University of Colombia	The dilemmas of recruitment: the Colombian case Summary
Floortje Toll and Ariel Sanchez	University of Utrecht	New tigers, black eagles and the dynamics of violence in Sri Lanka and Columbia Summary
Yvan Guichaoua	University of Oxford	Categories of rebellions in practice: the 'Mouvement des Nigeriens pour la Justice' in Northern Niger Summary
Magali Chelpi-den Hamer	University of Amsterdam	Why do we fight? Perspectives of young combatants in Western Cote d'Ivoire Summary
Moussa Fofana	Universite de Bouake	Les raisons de l’enrôlement des jeunes combattants de la rébellion du Nord de la Côte d’Ivoire Summary
Rachael Diprose	University of Oxford	Profiteers, religious warriors, or homeland defenders? Understanding conflict mobilisation processes through the case of Central Sulawesi, Indonesia Summary
Corinne Caumartin	University of Oxford	A divided hope: remembering guerrilla mobilisation in Guatemala Summary
Luisa Dietrich	University of Vienna	Gendered patterns of mobilisation and recruitment for political violence: lessons learned from three Latin American countries Summary
Seema Shekhawat	University of Mumbai	Engendering armed militancy in Kashmir: women as perpetrators of violence Summary Full Paper
Gnangadjomon Kone	Universite de Bouake	Comprendre l’émergence du mouvement 'Jeune Patriote' en Côte d’Ivoire Summary
Jonathan Spencer	University of Edinburgh	Escape routes? Youth, violence and histories of mobilisation in Sri Lanka, 1970-2004 Summary
Emmanuel Viret	Sciences-Po, Paris	Clientilism, the multiparty system and peasant mobilisations in Rwanda (1991-1994) Summary Full Pape
Jason Hart	University of Oxford	Displaced children's participation in political violence: towards greater understanding of mobilisation Summary
Martiza Paredes	University of Oxford	Indigenous peasant mobilisation and the Left in Peru Summary
Frances Stewart	University of Oxford	Religion versus ethnicity as a source of mobilisation: are there differences? Summary
Godwin Onuoha	Martin Luther University	Emergent forms of self-determination: contemporary Igbo nationalism and the 'Order of Violence' in Nigeria Summary
Philip Verwimp and Eleonora Nillesen	University of Antwerp and DIW Berlin	Time is now: recruitment into rebel organizations Summary
Ana Arjona	Yale University	Social orders in warring times: armed groups’ strategies and civilian agency in civil war Summary
Patricia Justino	Yale University	Poverty and violent conflict: a micro-level perspective on the causes and duration of warfare Summary
Federic Deycard	Sciences-Po, Bordeaux	Political culture and Tuareg mobilisations: rebels of Niger, from Kaosen to the 'Mouvement des Nigeriens pour la Justice' Summary
Adam Higazi	University of Oxford	Social mobilisation and collective violence: vigilantes and militias in the lowlands of Plateau State, Central Nigeria Summary
Thomas McKenna	APRC	The endless road to peace: armed separatism, compromise and ancestral domain in the Muslim Philippines Summary

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Mobilisation for Political Violence: What Do We Know?

A CRISE Workshop

Oxford Department of International Development

17 - 18 March 2009

Programme

Abstracts

Session Notes

Participants

Abstracts