Nina Wilén

Resisting Ownership: The Paralysis of EU Peacebuilding in the Congo

ABSTRACT This article analyzes how the idea of local ownership is functioning in the context of security sector reform in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a focus on European Unions efforts in the area. The authors argue that despite discursive emphasis on ownership, in practice local resistance in combination with the notion of security sector reform and the idea of ownership being externally constructed concepts with vague definitions create counterproductive dynamics between local and international actors. The result has been a paralysis of the security sector reform efforts in the Congo. Real progress in security sector reform is possible only if the local authorities “own” the reforms, but if progress means less power for these authorities, they are unlikely to sustain it. While the literature traditionally emphasizes the role of external inconsistency in ownerships shortcomings, this article demonstrates that a full picture also requires highlighting the local dynamics of ownership resistance.

A Hybrid Peace through Locally Owned and Externally Financed ssr–ddr in Rwanda?

Abstract This article aims to critically examine Rwandas security sector reform and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (ssr–ddr) process through a theoretical framework outlining four different models of peace processes in order to identify the sort of peace that can emerge from Rwandas ssr–ddr approach. The author analyses how the Rwandan government has managed to keep the process ‘locally’ owned, while largely financed by external actors, despite strong criticism of its apparent lack of democratisation. The ‘genocide credit’, the Rwandan governments preference for national, rather than international solutions and its recent troop contribution to peacebuilding operations in the region are identified as the main reasons for this development. The paper argues that the peace emanating from the ssr–ddr process may be considered a hybrid form of state formation and state building, because of the local agencys preference for security and stability while simultaneously enjoying financial and technocratic support for its ‘liberal’ peacebuilding actions in the region.

Capacity-building or Capacity-taking? Legitimizing Concepts in Peace and Development Operations

This article critically analyses capacity-building and local ownership in the context of UN peace operations through interviews with UN staff and NGO representatives in Liberia and Burundi. The argument is that these concepts are left ambiguous and undefined to avoid accountability for peace operations while still functioning as value-adding and legitimizing discursive instruments for the latter. This article proves that the many paradoxes and contradictions surrounding the concepts clearly deter their operation in practice, while their positive connotations remain important, discursively, as legitimizing tools.

Sending peacekeepers abroad, sharing power at home: Burundi in Somalia

This article attempts to answer how Burundi has become one of the main troop-contributing countries to international peacekeeping missions. To do this, it examines how the post-conflict political settlement between Burundian parties and external partners has impacted on the decision to deploy Burundian troops in multilateral peace operations in Africa. The authors claim that Burundis decision to deploy troops, which took place in the midst of an overarching security sector reform, had a temporary stabilizing effect on the internal political balance due to several factors, including professionalization, prestige, and financial opportunities. From an international perspective, Burundis role in peacekeeping has helped to reverse the image of Burundi as a post-conflict country in need of assistance to that of a peacebuilding state, offering assistance to others who are worse off. These factors taken together have also enhanced the possibilities for the Burundian Government to continue its trend of demanding independence from international oversight mechanisms and political missions, while maintaining good relations with donors, despite reports of increasing authoritarianism and limited political space. The article draws on significant fieldwork, including over 50 interviews with key actors in the field and complements the scarce literature on African troop-contributing states.

Examining the Links between Security Sector Reform and Peacekeeping Troop Contribution in Post-conflict States

ABSTRACT This article examines the links between post-conflict states’ troop contributions to international peacekeeping missions and security sector reform (SSR). It shows how SSR and troop-contribution preparations are increasingly interwoven and at times perceived as complementary by both external and internal actors. Some of the objectives sought after in SSR, such as the modernization of the military forces and the institutionalization of international norms, overlap with the aim of external partners’ pre-deployment training programmes and formations. Yet, it is argued that there are several unintended consequences with establishing links between SSR and peacekeeping capacity-building that are too strong, including the reinforcement of the troop-contributing government which, in case the government has authoritarian tendencies, undermines democratic reforms and transparency. There is also a risk that donors increasingly prefer to support pre-deployment training that has tangible and rapid results rather than investing funds in SSR, which is politically difficult with few examples of success. Donors and national actors alike are therefore encouraged to reflect on whether post-conflict states should contribute troops in the immediate aftermath of conflict before SSR has been completed. The answer is likely to vary depending on context-specific issues, which makes it difficult to generalize across cases, but the question remains nevertheless essential.

From Foe to Friend? army integration after war in Burundi, Rwanda and the Congo

ABSTRACT This article examines the integration processes of rebel and government forces in three African armies after war with the aim of enhancing the understanding of which conditions and which actors drive these processes forward. In addition, the objective is to evaluate how successful these different processes have been and what effects they have had on the peacebuilding processes. The author adopts a comparative case study approach of Burundi, Rwanda and the Congo, and examines their respective integration processes. An altered version of Galtungs structural theory of integration is applied to identify different means, methods and results. The author finds that professionalization, socialization, welfare-provision and political education are all used to various extent to promote conditions for integration. The author argues that while a functional army capable of conducting major military operations is a sign of successful integration, it does not necessarily have a positive effect on the peacebuilding process if the relationship between the government and the army is undemocratic.

Security sector reform, gender and local narratives in Burundi

This paper maps the difficulties with operationalising the gender discourse described in the peace accord and post-conflict documents, which guide Burundis peace-building process, through local womens narratives from the security forces. The author claims that due to limited international and local investment, the local women involved in the security forces initiate small practical changes by referring to their vision of femininity, while theoretically legitimising these demands by linking them to the international human rights discourse in order to survive in an overwhelmingly masculine arena. International organisations and donors’ focus on traditionally feminine and softer areas, such as reconciliation and reintegration programmes, together with local elites’ tendency to view gender as an ‘add-on’ contribute to this development.

Identifying the spoilers in the security sector reform – disarmament demobilisation and reintegration process in the Congo

The Congolese security sector reform – disarmament demobilisation and reintegration (SSR-DDR) process has suffered from setbacks in its military sector during the last 10 years, such as insufficient funding, lack of coordination and domestic reluctance to major changes, with as a result, a very fragile and disjointed Army. These problems have deepened as officers have defected from the Army and caused new instability in the East of the Congo. This article aims to analyse the recent mutinies and the reaction by the Congolese government by applying a capabilities-based approach in combination with a typology of spoilers. The objective is to identify and classify the spoilers and answer the questions of why they emerge now and how they are dealt with on a national level. From the analysis, the author suggests that there are several spoilers involved in the current situation – the most powerful being the Congolese and the Rwandan governments, prompting the question of whether an international involvement is necessary to solve the problem.

Militarisation of governance after conflict: beyond the rebel-to-ruler frame – the case of Rwanda

Abstract In this article, we develop and expand the rebel-to-ruler literature to go beyond ‘rebel transformations’, in order to examine the transformation and militarisation of the entire post-genocide society in Rwanda. Through a historical and socio-political analysis of the military’s influence in post-genocide Rwanda, we argue that the adoption of military norms and ethos, drawn from an idealised and reconstructed pre-colonial history rather than simply an insurgent past, motivates the military’s centrality and penetration of all society’s sectors, economically, politically and socially, with the ultimate aim of retaining power in the hands of the rebels turned rulers. As such, the case demonstrates the need for an expansion of the rebel-to-ruler literature (1) beyond its concern with parties and regime type to a broader palette of governance effects and (2) beyond its singular focus on insurgent past and towards a longue-durée understanding of complementary causes.

Rwanda’s military as a people’s army: heroes at home and abroad

ABSTRACT This article explores the Rwandan military’s central role and functions in both domestic and foreign policy through the two concepts of ‘people’s army’ and ‘hero’. The analysis is informed by material collected during six months of fieldwork inside the Rwandan military. The overarching theoretical objective of the article is to increase our knowledge of the role that narratives play in creating identities in specific contexts. It therefore draws on and contributes to a rich literature grounded in social constructivist ontology, which examines the relationship between narratives and identities. Empirically, the article contributes to the literature exploring the Rwandan military’s collective identity construction in post-genocide Rwanda and the consequences this has for the military’s roles both at home and abroad. The authors argue that the political and military elite’s production of narratives around the concepts: ‘people’s army’ and ‘hero’ in relation to the national military has three aims: (1) to construct a new military identity; (2) to promote domestic stability and to enhance Rwanda’s international status; and (3) to keep the government in power.