PO377 Ethnic Conflict and Political Violence

1. PO377 Ethnic Conflict and Political Violence Week 12 Seminar: Non-Traditional Agents of Political Violence

2. Main Seminar Questions • 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?

3. 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.)

4. 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 non-traditional agents of political violence from post-conflict planning and development activities (MacKenzie 2009).

5. 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.

6. Who are child soldiers? (Sierra Leone, below)

7. Karen child soldiers in Burma/Myanmar (left, 2000 and right, 2001 – all are 12 years old)

8. Cambodia (left, 1970s) and unknown (right)

9. 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).

10. Push Factors • Why do women and/or children become agents of political violence? (Spend ten minutes discussing this in groups then share your ideas.)

11. Why do women and/or children become agents of political violence? • 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

12. 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

13. Pull Factors • Why do militant ethno-national groups employ female combatants? (Spend five minutes discussing this in groups then share your ideas.)

14. 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.

15. 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.)

16. 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?)

17. Final Question • 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