Abstract
Messerschmidt and Quest trace the potential for transformation of violence-centred masculinities in Liberia and Uganda as a result of post-conflict peacebuilding. First, they suggest a practice-theoretical framework that enables them to distinguish between violent and non-violent configurations of masculinity at different analytical levels. They then scrutinise disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), security sector reforms (SSR) and transitional justice in Liberia and Uganda to assess their potential to transform violence-centred masculinities. In both cases, they see good reason to assume that peacebuilding measures have contributed to the transformation of masculinities, albeit more profoundly so in Liberia than in Uganda. By identifying relevant practices in all three programmes, they contribute to both the academic and practical knowledge concerning post-conflict peacebuilding measures.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
For a more detailed description of the framework, see Messerschmidt and Quest (2017).
- 2.
We want to use the term violence-centred masculinities as an umbrella term which encompasses hypermasculinity, military masculinity and militarised masculinity.
- 3.
By this, we do not imply that these countries exhibit high degrees of gender equality. Our observation only concerns masculinities related to high-intensity, organised violence.
- 4.
On militarised livelihoods, see Lautze (2008).
References
Allen, T. (2005). War and justice in Northern Uganda: An assessment of the international criminal court’s intervention. London: Crisis States Research Centre.
Amnesty International. (2008). Liberia: A flawed process discriminates against women and girls. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from http://www.refworld.org/docid/4847a4851a.html
Anderson, J. (2009). Gender, local justice, and ownership: Confronting masculinities and femininities in Northern Uganda. Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies, 41, 59–83.
Aning, K., & Jaye, T. (2011). Liberia: A briefing paper on the TRC report. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from http://www.operationspaix.net/DATA/DOCUMENT/6765~v~Liberia__A_Briefing_Paper_On_The_Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_Report.pdf
Ansorge, J. T., & Antwi-Ansorge, N. A. (2011). Monopoly, legitimacy, force: DDR-SSR Liberia. In M. A. Civic & M. Miklaucic (Eds.), Monopoly of force: The nexus of DDR and SSR (pp. 265–284). Washington, DC: National Defense University Press.
Apio, E. (2007). Uganda’s forgotten children of war. In C. Carpenter (Ed.), Born of war: Protecting children of sexual violence survivors in conflict zones (pp. 94–109). Bloomfield: Kumarian Press.
Baaz, M. E., & Stern, M. (2009). Why do soldiers rape? Masculinity, violence, and sexuality in the armed forces in the Congo (DRC). International Studies Quarterly, 53, 495–518.
Baines, E. (2007). The haunting of Alice: Local approaches to justice and reconciliation in Northern Uganda. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 1, 91–114.
Baines, E. (2011). Gender, responsibility, and the grey zone: Considerations for transitional justice. Journal of Human Rights, 10, 477–493.
Baines, E., Harris, N., & McCleery, K. (2010). Death is painful so it is better to be holding a gun: The socio-ecologically situated dis/rearmament decisions of formerly abducted persons in Northern Uganda. Conflict Security & Development, 10, 625–645.
Baker, B. (2007). How civil war altered policing in Sierra Leone and Uganda. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 45, 367–387.
Baker, B. (2011). Justice for survivors of sexual violence in Kitgum, Uganda. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 29, 245–262.
Bangura, I., & Specht, I. (2012). Work not war: Youth transformation in Liberia and Sierra Leone. In E. Drew & A. Ramsbotham (Eds.), Consolidating peace. Liberia and Sierra Leone. London: Conciliation Resources.
Barrett, F. J. (1996). The organizational construction of hegemonic masculinity: The case of the US navy. Gender, Work and Organization, 3, 129–142.
Basini, H. S. A. (2013). Gender mainstreaming unraveled: The case of DDRR in Liberia. International Interactions, 39, 535–557.
Bjarnegård, E., & Melander, E. (2011). Disentangling gender, peace and democratization: The negative effects of militarized masculinity. Journal of Gender Studies, 20, 139–154.
Bøås, M., & Bjørkhaug, I. (2010). DDRed in Liberia: Youth remarginalisation or reintegration? Brighton: MICROCON.
Bøås, M., & Stig, K. (2010). Security sector reform in Liberia: An uneven partnership without local ownership. Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, 4, 285–303.
Böge, V., & Fischer, M. (2005). Strategien der Friedensförderung: Die Geschlechterdimension in der Bearbeitung innerstaatlicher Gewaltkonflikte. In J. A. Davy, K. Hagemann, & U. Kätzel (Eds.), Frieden, Gewalt, Geschlecht: Friedens- und Konfliktforschung als Geschlechterforschung (pp. 318–343). Essen: Klartext.
Borzello, A. (2007). The challenge of DDR in Northern Uganda: The Lord’s Resistance Army. Conflict, Security and Development, 7, 387–415.
Butler, J. (2002). Performative Akte und Geschlechterkonstitution: Phänomenologie und feministische Theorie. In U. Wirth (Ed.), Performanz: Zwischen Sprachphilosophie und Kulturwissenschaft (pp. 301–320). Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.
Clark, P. (2014). Bringing them all back home: The challenges of DDR and transitional justice in contexts of displacement in Rwanda and Uganda. Journal of Refugee Studies, 27, 234–259.
Cockburn, C. (2001). The gendered dynamics of armed conflict and political violence. In C. O. N. Moser & F. C. Clark (Eds.), Victims, perpetrators or actors? Gender, armed conflict and political violence (pp. 13–29). New York: Zed Book.
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. (2006). The police, the people, the politics: Police accountability in Uganda. Retrieved May 26, 2017, from http://www.humanrightsinitiative.org/publications/police/uganda_country_report_2006.pdf
Connell, R., & Messerschmidt, J. (2005). Hegemonic masculinity: Rethinking the concept. Gender and Society, 19, 829–859.
Debusscher, P., & Martín de Almagro, M. (2016). Post-conflict women’s movements in turmoil: The challenges of success in Liberia in the 2005-aftermath. Journal of Modern African Studies, 54, 293–316.
Dittmer, C. (2015). Gender Trouble in der Bundeswehr: Eine Studie zu Identitätskonstruktionen und Geschlechterordnungen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Auslandseinsätzen. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.
Dolan, C. (2002). Collapsing masculinities and weak states—A case study of Northern Uganda. In F. Cleaver (Ed.), Masculinities matter! Men, gender, and development (pp. 57–83). London: Zed Books.
Duncanson, C. (2009). Forces for good? Narratives of military masculinity in peacekeeping operations. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 11, 63–80.
Elshtain, B. J. (1982). On beautiful souls, just warriors and feminist consciousness. Women’s Studies International Forum, 5, 341–348.
Espeland, R. H., & Petersen, S. (2010). The Ugandan army and its war in the north. Forum for Development Studies, 37, 193–215.
Esuruku, R. S. (2011). Beyond masculinity: Gender, conflict and post-conflict reconstruction in Northern Uganda. Journal of Science & Sustainable Development, 4, 25–40.
Finnström, S. (2010). Reconciliation grown bitter? War, retribution, and ritual action in Northern Uganda. In R. Shaw & L. W. Waldorf (Eds.), Localizing transitional justice: Interventions and priorities after mass violence (pp. 135–156). Stanford, DC: Stanford University Press.
Fleming, P. J., Barker, G., McCleary-Sills, J., & Morton, M. (2013). Engaging men and boys in advancing women’s agency: Where we stand and new directions. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Gaanderse, M., & Valasek, K. (Eds.). (2011). The security sector and gender in West Africa: A survey of police, defence, justice and penal services in ECOWAS states. Geneva: Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF).
Giddens, A., & Pierson, C. (1998). Conversations with Anthony Giddens: Making sense of modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Goldstein, J. S. (2003). War and gender. How gender shapes the war system and vice versa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Government of Uganda. (2000). Amnesty act. Retrieved December 14, 2018, from https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl-nat.nsf/0/7d2430f8f3cc16b6c125767e00493668/$file/ugandan+amnesty+act+2000.pdf
Government of Uganda. (2004). White paper on defence transformation. Retrieved December 11, 2018, from https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/155172/uganda2004.pdf
Government of Uganda. (2007). Recovery and development plan for Northern Uganda. Retrieved December 11, 2018, from https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Uganda_PRDP-2007.pdf
Government of Uganda. (2010). International criminal court act. Retrieved December 11, 2018, from https://ulii.org/system/files/legislation/act/2010/11/International%20Criminal%20Court%20Act%2C%202010.pdf
Griffiths, C. (2011). Mapping study on gender and security sector reform actors and activities in Liberia. Geneva: DCAF.
Haque, M. M. (2013). Hope for gender equality? A pattern of post-conflict transition in masculinity. Gender, Technology and Development, 17, 55–77.
Harders, C. (2011). Gender relations, violence and conflict transformation. In M. Fischer, B. Austin, & H. J. Giessmann (Eds.), Advancing conflict transformation. The Berghof handbook (pp. 131–155). Leverkusen: Barbara Budrich.
Haugbolle, S. (2012). The (little) militia man: Memory and militarized masculinity in Lebanon. Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 8, 115–139.
Hegre, H., Østby, G., & Raleigh, C. (2009). Poverty and civil war events. A disaggregated study of Liberia. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 53, 598–623.
Hendrickson, D. (2007). The Uganda defence review. Learning from experience. London: Kings College.
Human Rights Watch. (2016). Questions and answers on the LRA commander Dominic Ongwen and the ICC. Retrieved December 15, 2018, from https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/05/questions-and-answers-lra-commander-dominic-ongwen-and-icc
Hutchinson, S. E., & Jok, J. M. (2002). Gendered violence and the militarisation of ethnicity. A case study from South Sudan. In R. P. Werbner (Ed.), Postcolonial subjectivities in Africa (pp. 84–109). London: Zed Books.
ICG. (2009). Liberia: Uneven progress in security sector reform. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/148-liberia-uneven-progress-in-security-sector-reform.pdf
ICG. (2010). LRA: A regional strategy beyond killing Kony (Africa Report No. 157). Retrieved December 11, 2018, from https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/157-lra-a-regional-strategy-beyond-killing-kony.pdf
ICG. (2011). The Lord’s Resistance Army: End game? (Africa Report No. 182). Retrieved December 11, 2018, from http://www.operationspaix.net/DATA/DOCUMENT/6344~v~The_Lord_s_Resistance_Army__End_Game_pdf
Irin News. (2012). Human rights lack of funding stalls ex-combatants’ reintegration. Retrieved December 13, 2018, from http://www.irinnews.org/report/95672/uganda-lack-funding-stalls-ex-combatants-reintegration
Jones, A. (2006). Straight as a rule. Heteronormativity, gendercide, and the noncombatant male. Men and Masculinities, 8, 451–469.
Kagoro, J. (2013). The military ethos in the politics of post-1986 Uganda. Social Sciences Directory, 2, 31–46.
Kagoro, J. (2016). Competitive authoritarianism in Uganda: The not so hidden hand of the military. Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, 10, 155–172.
Kahlert, H. (2009). Geschlecht als Struktur- und Prozesskategorie – Eine Re-Lektüre von Giddens‘ Strukturierungstheorie. In B. Aulenbacher et al. (Eds.), FrauenMännerGeschlechterforschung: State of the art (pp. 206–216). Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
Keats, P. A. (2010). Soldiers working internationally: Impacts of masculinity, military culture, and operational stress on cross-cultural adaptation. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 32, 290–303.
Lautze, S. (2008). Livelihood systems of enlisted Ugandan army soldiers: Honour and reform of the UPDF. Small Wars and Insurgencies, 19, 635–653.
Leatherman, J. (2011). Sexual violence and armed conflict. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Liberia TRC. (2009). Final report. Liberia TRC, ‘Final Report’. Retrieved May 29, 2017, from http://trcofliberia.org/reports/final-report
Liberian National Transitional Legislative Assembly. (2005). Liberia: An act to establish the truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) of Liberia 2005. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from http://www.refworld.org/docid/473c6b3d2.html
Lubaale, E. C. (2017). Military courts and prosecution of offences by national defense forces in the dawn of the complementarity regime: The case of Uganda. Criminal Law Forum, 28, 709–747.
Maina, G. (2011). The complexity of applying UN resolution 1325 in post conflict reintegration processes: The case of Northern Uganda. Durban: ACCORD.
Malan, M. (2008). Security sector reform in Liberia: Mixed results from humble beginnings. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a478500.pdf
Maxwell, C. (2009). Moving beyond rape as ‘weapon of war’: An exploration of militarized masculinity and its consequences. Canadian Women Studies, 28, 108–120.
McFate, S. (2008). Outsourcing the making of militaries: Dyncorp international as sovereign agent. Review of African Political Economy, 35, 645–654.
McMullin, J. R. (2013). Ex-combatants and the post-conflict state: Challenges of reintegration. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Messerschmidt, M., & Quest, H. (2017). Männlichkeiten im Konflikt – Zum theoretischen Verhältnis von militarisierter Männlichkeit, militärischer Männlichkeit und Hypermaskulinität. Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, 6, 259–290.
Morton, M. L. S. I. (2014). Bring me men integrity: Religious re-buttressing of armed masculinity at the United States air force academy. Religious Studies and Theology, 33, 193–208.
Muhumuza, R. (2017). Ugandan army calls off search for Joseph Kony, says Lords Resistance Army no longer a threat. The Independent. Retrieved December 13, 2018, from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ugandan-army-joseph-kony-lords-resistance-army-search-called-off-car-a7691291.html
Okello, M. C., & Hovil, L. (2007). Confronting the reality of gender-based violence in Northern Uganda. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 1, 433–443.
Onyango, E. O. (2012). Manhood on the margins: Failing to be a man in post-conflict Northern Uganda. Brighton: MICROCON.
Peacock, D., & Barker, G. (2014). Working with men and boys to prevent gender-based violence: Principles, lessons learned, and ways forward. Men and Masculinities, 17, 578–599.
Porter, A. (2013). ‘What is constructed can be transformed’: Masculinities in post-conflict societies in Africa. International Peacekeeping, 20, 486–506.
Pugel, J. (2007). What the fighters say: A survey of ex-combatants in Liberia February–March 2006. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from http://www.operationspaix.net/DATA/DOCUMENT/904~v~What_the_Fighters_Say__A_Survey_of_Ex-combatants_in_Liberia.pdf
Raddatz, R. (2013). Tempering great expectations: Peacebuilding and transitional justice in Liberia. In C. L. Sriram, J. García-Godos, J. Herman, & O. Martin-Ortega (Eds.), Transitional justice and peacebuilding on the ground: Victims and ex-combatants (pp. 178–199). New York: Routledge.
Reckwitz, A. (2002). Toward a theory of social practices. A development in culturalist theorizing. European Journal of Social Theory, 5, 243–263.
Schomerus, M., & Allen, T. (2006). A hard homecoming: Lessons learned from the reception center process in Northern Uganda: An independent study. Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development and United Nations Children’s Fund.
Schroer-Hippel, M. (2011). Männlichkeit und zivilgesellschaftliche Friedensarbeit: Konsequenzen aus der Gender- und Konfliktforschung. Femina Politica, 20, 57–67.
Sivakumaran, S. (2007). Sexual violence against men in armed conflict. European Journal of International Law, 18, 253–276.
Specht, I. (2013). Gender, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and violent masculinities. In Instituto de Defesa Nacional (Ed.), Gender violence in armed conflicts (pp. 61–90). Liboa: Instituto da Defesa Nacional.
Streicher, R. (2011). Männer, Männlichkeit und Konflikt: Eine kritische Reflektion des Forschungsstandes und ein Plädoyer für konzeptionelle Öffnungen. Femina Politica, 20, 44–57.
Tapscott, R. (2016). Preventing change and protecting the regime: Crime preventers, local livelihoods, and the 2016 Ugandan elections. London: Justice and Security Research Programme.
Tapscott, R. (2017). Local security and the (un)making of public authority in Gulu, Northern Uganda. African Affairs, 116, 39–59.
Tayler-Smith, K., Zachariah, R., Hinderaker, S. G., Manzi, M., De Plecker, E., Van Wolvelaer, P., et al. (2012). Sexual violence in post-conflict Liberia: Survivors and their care. Tropical Medicine and International Health, 17, 1356–1360.
Theidon, K. (2009). Reconstructing masculinities: The disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants in Colombia. Human Rights Quarterly, 31, 1–34.
Theobald, A. (2014). The role of women in making and building peace in Liberia: Gender sensitivity versus masculinity. Stuttgart: Ibidem Press.
UNSC. (2005). Progress report of the secretary-general on ways to combat subregional and cross-border problems in West Africa. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/A741E29A87DE0C0485256FAA0059F582-unsc-westafrica-11feb.pdf
Vastapuu, L. (2017). Hope is not gone altogether. The roles and reintegration of young female war veterans in Liberia. Retrieved October 23, 2017, from https://hopeisnotgonealtogether.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/hope-is-not-gone-altogether.pdf
Weah, A. (2012). Hopes and uncertainties: Liberia’s journey to end impunity. International Journal of Transitional Justice, 6, 331–343.
Whitley, B. E., Jr. (Ed.). (2001). Gender-role variables and attitudes toward homosexuality. Sex Roles, 45, 691–721.
Whitworth, S. (2004). Men, militarism, and UN peacekeeping: A gendered analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Messerschmidt, M., Quest, H. (2020). Peacebuilding Measures and the Transformation of Masculinities: Looking at Liberia and Uganda. In: Scheuermann, M., Zürn, A. (eds) Gender Roles in Peace and Security. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21890-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21890-4_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-21889-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-21890-4
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)