Description
Prevailing theories of disarmament of non-state actors argue that groups agree to disarm either if a third-party security guarantee is present or if power-sharing propositions are included in the peace settlement. These security-focused perspectives however disregard the variety of underlying motivations of non-state groups to acquire or to lay down arms. How can theories of non-state actors’ disarmament be improved? This article proposes a symbolic framework to study the process of disarmament by focusing specifically on symbolic language and symbolic acts. The symbolic framework of disarmament can enhance our current understanding of disarmament in three main ways. It enables scholars to view disarmament not as an outcome but as a process; it opens up the temporal horizon of analysis by considering a wide range of motivations to acquire weapons in the first place, and because symbols are multivocal, this perspective encourages the integration of gender perspectives into the study of disarmament processes.
Keywords: disarmament, DDR, symbols, rituals, civil war, peace agreements
