Warlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)

The paper analyzes the processes of transformation of leaders of rebel movements and tribal militias (warlords) into leaders of political parties and senior government officials after the end of the Civil War (1991‑2002) in Sierra Leone. It is argued that the opportunities for an anti‑government (or...

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Autores principales:	T. S. Denisova, S. V. Kostelyanets
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN RU
Publicado:	Ассоциация независимых экспертов «Центр изучения кризисного общества» (in English: Association for independent experts “Center for Crisis Society Studies”) 2020
Materias:	africa sierra leone military conflicts political conflicts civil wars political parties presidential elections peacebuilding International relations JZ2-6530
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/18b15b61be92499eb1461b03746d26e3
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:18b15b61be92499eb1461b03746d26e32021-11-07T14:45:04ZWarlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)2542-02402587-932410.23932/2542-0240-2020-13-3-12https://doaj.org/article/18b15b61be92499eb1461b03746d26e32020-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ogt-journal.com/jour/article/view/644https://doaj.org/toc/2542-0240https://doaj.org/toc/2587-9324The paper analyzes the processes of transformation of leaders of rebel movements and tribal militias (warlords) into leaders of political parties and senior government officials after the end of the Civil War (1991‑2002) in Sierra Leone. It is argued that the opportunities for an anti‑government (or, on the contrary, pro‑government) armed group to become an officially recognized political organization, and for erstwhile field commanders to become its leaders, emerge either in the event of a rebel victory or after the signing of a peace agreement (as it happened in Sierra Leone) and the beginning of the integration of former militants into the post‑war society. It is usually the implementation of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs that allows former rebels and their leaders to escape punishment for crimes committed during conflicts. At the same time, the opportunity to “earn forgiveness” is not the only incentive for a warlord to evolve into a peacetime politician. Indeed, gaining political power in African countries entails access to various sources of enrichment, and since running armed groups requires their leaders to possess organizational and entrepreneurial skills and charisma ‑ naturally, along with less positive character traits ‑ many warlords who have not yet fulfilled their political ambitions or secured their financial situation try to “adapt” their wartime skills and experience to peaceful life. A proven way of gaining power peacefully is by participating in presidential and parliamentary elections. It is assumed that the development of a political career by former rebels in the context of peacebuilding should prevent the unfolding of another spiral of violence, but this is far from always the case: accustomed to achieving goals by military means, they often attempt to solve political issues through violence in peacetime. The paper considers the reasons for certain former rebel leaders to remain committed to peacebuilding and for other warlords to prove unable to achieve political goals by peaceful means.T. S. DenisovaS. V. KostelyanetsАссоциация независимых экспертов «Центр изучения кризисного общества» (in English: Association for independent experts “Center for Crisis Society Studies”)articleafricasierra leonemilitary conflictspolitical conflictscivil warspolitical partiespresidential electionspeacebuildingInternational relationsJZ2-6530ENRUКонтуры глобальных трансформаций: политика, экономика, право, Vol 13, Iss 3, Pp 214-231 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN RU
topic	africa sierra leone military conflicts political conflicts civil wars political parties presidential elections peacebuilding International relations JZ2-6530
spellingShingle	africa sierra leone military conflicts political conflicts civil wars political parties presidential elections peacebuilding International relations JZ2-6530 T. S. Denisova S. V. Kostelyanets Warlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)
description	The paper analyzes the processes of transformation of leaders of rebel movements and tribal militias (warlords) into leaders of political parties and senior government officials after the end of the Civil War (1991‑2002) in Sierra Leone. It is argued that the opportunities for an anti‑government (or, on the contrary, pro‑government) armed group to become an officially recognized political organization, and for erstwhile field commanders to become its leaders, emerge either in the event of a rebel victory or after the signing of a peace agreement (as it happened in Sierra Leone) and the beginning of the integration of former militants into the post‑war society. It is usually the implementation of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs that allows former rebels and their leaders to escape punishment for crimes committed during conflicts. At the same time, the opportunity to “earn forgiveness” is not the only incentive for a warlord to evolve into a peacetime politician. Indeed, gaining political power in African countries entails access to various sources of enrichment, and since running armed groups requires their leaders to possess organizational and entrepreneurial skills and charisma ‑ naturally, along with less positive character traits ‑ many warlords who have not yet fulfilled their political ambitions or secured their financial situation try to “adapt” their wartime skills and experience to peaceful life. A proven way of gaining power peacefully is by participating in presidential and parliamentary elections. It is assumed that the development of a political career by former rebels in the context of peacebuilding should prevent the unfolding of another spiral of violence, but this is far from always the case: accustomed to achieving goals by military means, they often attempt to solve political issues through violence in peacetime. The paper considers the reasons for certain former rebel leaders to remain committed to peacebuilding and for other warlords to prove unable to achieve political goals by peaceful means.
format	article
author	T. S. Denisova S. V. Kostelyanets
author_facet	T. S. Denisova S. V. Kostelyanets
author_sort	T. S. Denisova
title	Warlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)
title_short	Warlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)
title_full	Warlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)
title_fullStr	Warlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)
title_full_unstemmed	Warlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)
title_sort	warlords to politicians: the transformation of rebel leaders in africa (on the example of sierra leone)
publisher	Ассоциация независимых экспертов «Центр изучения кризисного общества» (in English: Association for independent experts “Center for Crisis Society Studies”)
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/18b15b61be92499eb1461b03746d26e3
work_keys_str_mv	AT tsdenisova warlordstopoliticiansthetransformationofrebelleadersinafricaontheexampleofsierraleone AT svkostelyanets warlordstopoliticiansthetransformationofrebelleadersinafricaontheexampleofsierraleone
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Warlords to Politicians: The Transformation of Rebel Leaders in Africa (on the Example of Sierra Leone)

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