Description
This paper will examine conclusions from a large-scale qualitative structured focused analysis of 30 cases of civil wars that have ended with a Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme since the end of the Cold War. Since the late 1990s DDR has become part of the widely accepted orthodoxy of how peace should be built. However, despite the billions that have been spent on DDR there has been little academic research on how it affects peace and conflict. In the paper, the central outcome to be considered is whether a conflict has re-occurred within five years of a peace agreement that specified DDR. The paper will disaggregate the different effects disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, and examine both which has the most significant effects and also how they complement each other. It will also consider factors likely to influence success or failure, such as verification, third party presence (such as peacekeeping forces), specific goals for implementation, inclusiveness (particularly concerning women and womens’ groups), disarmament of groups not party to the peace agreement, and symbolic destruction of weapons. In doing so the paper will use new methods to advance our knowledge of the conditions under which peace can successfully be built.
Keywords: comparative study, disarmament, armed conflict, DDR
