Transcript Seminar slides (week 12)

PO377 ETHNIC CONFLICT AND
POLITICAL VIOLENCE
Week 12 Seminar: Non-Traditional
Agents of Political Violence
Main Seminar Questions
1.
2.
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.)
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 nontraditional 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