Conclusion

Abstract

The concluding chapter stands back and creatively analyses the bigger conceptual themes and comparative threads that constitute the gist of this book. It creates the analytical links among the three post-colonial DDR cases, particularly revisiting the question of why DDR happened the way it did. While each of the different post-colonial conflict DDR processes occurred in a localized setting, certain comparative elements transcended state boundaries. This chapter assesses how these analytical features shaped DDR: structural and organizational framework, target group, state’s lead in DDR, linkages between DDR and SSR in nation- and state-building and post-conflict violence type. This chapter groups together three elements—target group, state agency and post-conflict violence—since these elements are inextricably intertwined. The chapter compares the three peace processes that ended each conflict and where DDR fit within each different structural and organizational context, noting the particular deficiencies and effectiveness. It highlights particularly the gap between the 2DDs and the Rs as a comparative theme across the three cases. Although equipped with the latitude to craft contextualized programmes, none of the countries had a good formula for doing long-term reintegration in the aftermath, which turned out to be a very long-term process, needing patience, experimentation and determination. Moreover, in the context of post-colonial transitions, there were more urgent nation- and state-building priorities that overwhelmed long-term reintegration. Yet, the nationalist-liberation-movements-turned ruling parties in the three countries have been vulnerable to the former freedom fighters’ demands for recompense and reintegration assistance long after the liberation wars ended. Given the sacrifices made by many men and women who joined the liberation struggles without money or education and were left as poor and disadvantaged as they were before, this chapter is a poignant reminder that in some conflicts even the victorious suffer huge personal losses and opportunity costs. This chapter concludes that DDR is a larger puzzle in nation-building and economic development, tasks that are equally formidable in post-colonial contexts. Significantly, reintegration is a very long-term process, needing patience, experimentation and determination.