PO377 ETHNIC CONFLICT AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE

Week 12 Seminar: Non-Traditional Agents of Political Violence

Main Seminar Questions

1. Why do women and/or children become agents of

political violence? (Think in terms both of why militant ethno-national groups employ women and children as combatants and what the voluntary/involuntary motivations are for women and children to participate.)

2. What are the consequences (for themselves, society and our understanding of ‘traditional agents of political violence’) of their active participation in ethno-national conflicts?

Introductory Question

Why is it important to analyse the phenomenon of female and child combatants in contemporary ethno-national conflict?

(Spend five minutes discussing this in small groups.)

Some reasons for analysing non-

traditional agents of political violence

Because of the security threat they pose (e.g. Alison 2004; note different types of security);

to correct the ‘gendered oversight’ of previous research (Fox 2004);

to overcome the systematic and historical omission of non-traditional agents of political violence from post-conflict planning and development activities (MacKenzie 2009).

Why are women supposedly more pacific than men? (see Sharlach 1999)

Essentialist explanation: women are by nature the gentler sex [NB: bear in mind that the nature of the link between testosterone and aggression is contested by scientists].

Constructivist explanation: if women are indeed gentler, it is due to nurture rather than nature.

Who are child soldiers? (Sierra Leone, below)

Karen child soldiers in Burma/Myanmar (left, 2000 and right, 2001 – all are 12 years old)

Cambodia (left, 1970s) and unknown (right)

Who are child soldiers?

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989): a child/minor is a human being under age of 18. Optional Protocol to the Convention, on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2000/2002): bans recruitment of minors by non-state armed groups and prohibits their participation in state and non-state armed hostilities. Conscription also banned under 18.

Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (2007): a child soldier is any person under the age of 18 recruited or used by any armed group (state or non-state), in whatever capacity and whether or not an armed conflict exists.

Child soldiers perform a range of tasks including participation in combat, laying mines and explosives; scouting, spying, acting as decoys, couriers or guards; training, drill or other preparations; logistics and support functions, portering, cooking and domestic labour; and sexual slavery or other recruitment for sexual purposes.

For possible criticisms of how to define ‘child soldiers’, see Wessells (1998).

Push Factors

Why do women and/or children become agents of political violence?

(Spend ten minutes discussing this in groups then share your ideas.)

Why do women and/or children become agents of political violence?

I. Involuntary motivations, inter alia:

the exercise or threat of physical violence against them (see e.g. example of Francois, Briggs 2005);

peer pressure (e.g. Cairns 1987); propaganda (e.g. African Rights 1995, Wessels

1998);

-> note that it can be discussed whether the latter two are indeed involuntary motivations

Why do women and/or children become agents of political violence?

II. Voluntary motivations, inter alia:

because they ‘believe in the cause’ (e.g. Alison 2003); because they seek revenge (e.g. ibid.); out of socioeconomic necessity and/or the hope for

material gain (e.g. Wessels 1998);

-> note that it can be discussed whether the latter two are indeed voluntary motivations or how much sense the voluntary/involuntary distinction makes in the first place

Pull Factors

Why do militant ethno-national groups employ female combatants?

(Spend five minutes discussing this in groups then share your ideas.)

Why do militant ethno-national groups employ female combatants?

(See Alison, 2004 and 2009):

Out of strategic needs, including an insufficiency of men;

out of an ideological need to show that these groups represent an all-encompassing (and therefore legitimate) mass social movement;

out of pressure from the women themselves.

Pull Factors

Why do militant groups employ child combatants?

(Not specific to ethno-national militant groups. Spend five minutes discussing this in groups then share your ideas.)

Why do militant groups employ child combatants?

Out of strategic need, including insufficiency of adult fighters;

because they can be easily conscripted; because they are seen to be more malleable and docile

(and cheaper) than adults; out of pressure from children themselves (many say they

‘volunteered’); because they are more expendable (cannon fodder)? changing patterns of warfare affect children’s social roles

(as well as women’s); lighter weapons mean children today can carry them.

(Are there differences when it is a state military using children?)

Final Question

1. What are the consequences (for themselves, society and our understanding of ‘traditional agents of political violence’) of their (women/children) active participation in ethno-national conflicts?

Open discussion. In particular consider how a society might recover from widespread atrocities committed by child soldiers. Watch the following with caution: ‘Free Syria Army make child behead unarmed prisoner’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kayX9k5lmfs