Interdisciplinary Programmes Academic year 2018-2019
The Transformation of Armed Groups
IA088 - Autumn - 6 ECTS
Fri, 21 Sep 8.15-10.00 Room A2 Fri, 28 Sep 8.15-10.00 Room S8 Fri, 5 Oct 16.15- 20.00 Room S4 Fri, 12 Oct 16.15-20.00 Room S4 Fri, 19 Oct 16.15-18.00 Room S4 Fri, 2 Nov 16.15-18.00 Room S4
Sat, 3 Nov 9.15-17.00 Room S4,S6,S7,S8
Course Description
The course studies the possibilities, pitfalls and politics of the transformation of armed actors as a strategy to end violent conflict. By looking at a range of armed actors – including state security forces, armed non-state actors, gangs, terror networks or crime-related groups – the course has the overall objective to unpack sensitivities and demystify practical issues involved in the transformation of armed groups. The course will also study the role of dialogue and negotiation within broader transformative approaches in several selected cases. By taking this 6 credit course, students will develop a nuanced and at the same time practical understanding about how transformative approaches can provide entry points for lasting exists from violent conflict.
PROFESSOR
Achim Wennmann
Achim.Wennmann@graduateinstitute.ch
Office hours
ASSISTANT
Felipe Bahamondes
felipe.bahamondes@graduateinstitute.ch
Syllabus
The strategic landscape of violent conflict is rapidly changing in many parts of the world. New types of armed actors with fluid affiliations and transnational connections are defining conflict theatres. At the same time, fewer instances of violent conflict fall into the classic categories of ‘inter-state’ or ‘civil’
wars; and geopolitical tensions are rising and lead to new conflict dynamics and proxy wars. In light of these developments, this course explores debates on the transformation of armed groups and
investigates the possibilities, pitfalls and politics of transformative approaches. It has the overall objective to unpack the sensitivities and practical issues behind the use of dialogue and negotiation as primary tools for transformative approaches. It looks at various cases where rebel groups or liberation movements transformed into political parties and became part of government, but also at the transformation of gangs and crime groups in Central and South America.
The course considers ‘armed groups’ as organizations that use violence to achieve their political, economic or social aims. The term comprises a diverse set of actors including state security and police forces, armed non-state actors, as well as non-conventional armed groups such as gangs, terror networks, and crime-related actors. The emphasis on ‘transformation’ highlights that armed groups can change their organizational and motivational characteristics over time, and that the
possibility of transformation can open opportunities for the prevention and resolution of violent conflict.
The course requires students to be open to interdisciplinary thinking and to perspectives from different professions. Based on the discussion of key readings and using several interactive teaching methods (e.g. consultancy exercise, debate, role play), the course provides an introduction to current debates on conflict transformation and the characteristics of armed groups. The course also looks at several emerging issues such as the transformation of terrorist groups, gangs or crime-related actors
associated to recent non-conventional violent conflicts in Latin America or the Middle East and North Africa.
The course will be graded through a research paper (80%), and class participation (20%).
(1) The research paper should focus on a subject situated broadly within the overall topic and themes discussed in this class. The process towards the final research paper will include the following steps and deadlines:
a. Proposition of a paper topic, including (a) a research question; and a description of (b) why finding an answer to this question is important, (c) what scholarly literature this question is in conversation with (d) the approach and method used to answer the question.
Length: 300 words; deadline 28 September 2018 at the beginning of class (please print your submission and bring it to class).
b. Literature review: identification of the key 15-20 sources relevant to answer the question and situate the topic of the paper in the relevant academic literature. Length: 1,500 words + bibliography; deadline 12 October 2018 at the beginning of class (please print your submission and bring it to class).
c. Paper structure, including a (a) draft executive summary (200 words); (b) draft introduction (500 words), (c) draft paper outline composed of 3 section headlines and 6-8 topic sentences per section, and (d) draft conclusion. Length: 4-8 pages (no references or bibliography needed at this stage); deadline 2 November 2018 at the beginning of class (please print your submission and bring it to class).
d. Final research paper fully referenced. Length 6,000 words (all in); deadline 3 December 2018 (please submit your paper electronically to achim.wennmann@graduateinstitute.ch)
(2) Class participation: Presence in class, participation in group work, production on deadline of paper research process.
All documents marker with a star (*) will be provided by the professor. All other readings are available online or through the library’s electronic system.
Due to the interactive nature of the course, this class is not open to students only wishing to audit.
1. What is conflict transformation?
Friday, 21 September 8.15-10.00
*Martin van Creveld (1991) The Transformation of War. New York: The Free Press. Chapter 2:
By Whom War is Fought, pp.33-62.
*Joel S. Migdal (2001) State in Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Constitute one Another. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Chapter 7, Studying the Politics of Development and Change: The State of the Art, pp.195-230.
John Paul Lederach and Michelle Maiese (2009) Conflict Transformation: A Circular Journey with a Purpose, New Routes, vol.14, pp.7-10.
Hugh Miall (2004) Conflict Transformation: A Multi-Dimensional Task. In Alex Austin, Martina Fischer, Norbert Ropers (eds.) Transforming Ethnopolitical Conflict. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien.
2. Understanding armed groups
Friday, 28 September 8.15-10.00
*Peter G. Thompson (2014) Armed Groups: The 21st Century Threat. Boulder: Rowman and Littlefield. Chapter 3: What Are Armed Groups?, pp.53-74; Chapter 5: Internal Characteristics, pp.103-138; Chapter 6: External Characteristics, pp.139-171.
*Jeroen de Zeeuw (2008) ‘Understanding the Political Transformation of Rebel Movements’ in Jeoen de Zeeuw (ed.) From Soldiers to Politicians: Transforming Rebel Movements after Civil War. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, pp. 1-32.
Veronique Dudouet, Katrin Planta, Hand J. Giessmann (2016) The Political Transformation of Armed and Banned Groups : Lessons Learned and Implications for International Support.
Berlin and new York: Berghof Foundation and United nations Development Programme, pp.6-24.
*Ana Arjona, Nelson Kasfir, and Zachariah Mampily (2015) Introduction, in Ana Arjona, Nelson Kasfir, and Zachariah Mampily (eds) Rebel Governance in Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-22.
3. Dynamics of transformation
Friday, 5 October 16.15- 20.00 (select 2 out of the 3 reading blocks)
Reading block 1 - Cases
*Mohammad- Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou (2018) A Theory of Isis: Political Violence and the Transformation of the Global Order. London: Pluto Press. Introduction: The Islamic State and Political Vioence in the Early Twenty-Fist Century, pp. 1-30.
Ahmed Rufai Abubakar (2015) The Case of Boko Haram in Nigeria, in United Nations System Staff College (ed.) Understanding a New Generation of Non-state Armed Groups. Turin:
United Nations System Staff College, pp. 45-54.
Reading block 2 – Transformation in context
Omar Abdulaziz Hallaj (2016) Geographies of Absence: Radicalization and the Shaping of the New Syrian Territoriality, New England Journal of Public Policy, vol. 29, no.1, Article 10.
*Karen Umemoto (2006) The Truce: Lessons from the L.A. Gang War. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press. Chapter 8: Transforming Racial Conflict, pp.170-196 (notes on pp 211-212).
Óscar Martínez, Efren Lemus, Carlos Martínez, and Deborah Sontag (2016) Killers on a Shoestring: Inside the Gangs of El Salvador, New York Times, 20 November.
Reading block 3 – How Terrorism ends
*Audrey Cronin (2011) How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of
Terrorist Campaigns. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Introduction, pp.1-13; Conclusion, pp.197-206.
Seth Jones and Martin Libicki (2008) How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa'ida. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, pp.9-43.
4. The possibilities and pitfalls of transformation
Friday, 12 October 16.15-20.00 (select 2 out of the 3 reading blocks)
Reading block 1 - Negotiation
*Jonathan Power (2015) Terrorists at the Table: Why Negotiating is the Only Way to Peace.
New York: St. Martin’s Press. Chapter 1: Why We Must Negotiate with Terrorists, pp.15-36.
*Mitchell B. Reiss (2010) Negotiating with Evil: When to Talk to Terrorists. New York:
Integrated Media. Conclusion: Lesson Learned, pp.221-247.
Ken Menkhaus (2016) Non-state Security Providers and Political Formation in Somalia. Paper No.5. Kitchener: Centre for Security Governance (read pages 6-9 & 32-39)
Reading block 2 – Elite bargains
Christine Cheng, Jonathan Goodhand, and Patrick Meehan (2018) Securing and Sustaining Elite Bargains that Reduce Violent Conflict: Synthesis Paper. London: Stabilisation Unit.
Executive Summary, pp.1-6; Chapter 3, pp. 17-45.
Conciliation Resources (2018) Possibilities for a Peaceful Political Future: Perspectives of Leaders of Five Taliban Caucasus, in Anna Larson and Alexander Ramsbotham (eds) Incremental Peace in Afghanistan. London: Conciliation Resources, pp. 56-62.
Mujib Mashal and Eric Schmitt (2018) White House Orders Direct Taliban Talks to Jump-Start Afghan Negotiations. New York Times, 15 July.
Reading block 3 – Truces
von der Borgh, C. and W. Saventije, 2014. De-securitising and Re-securitising Gang Policies:
The Funes Government and Gangs in El Salvador. Journal of Latin American Studies 47(1):
149-176.
Isabel Aguilar Umaña, Bernardo Arévalo de León, and Ana Glenda Táger (2014). El Salvador:
Negotiating with Gangs, in Alexander Ramsbotham and Achim Wennmann (eds.), Legitimacy and Peace Processes: From Coercion to Consent. London: Conciliation Resources, pp. 95-99.
Interview with Raul Mijango: ‘Promoter of Talks with El Salvador's Gangs Loses Faith’
InsightCrime, 25 October 2015. Part 1 & Part 2
5. Transforming gangs and urban violence
Friday, 19 October, 16.15-18.00 (select 3 out of the 4 readings)
David C. Brotherton and Rafael Gude (2018) Social Inclusion from Below: The Perspectives of Street Gangs and their Possible Effects on Declining Homicide Rates in Ecuador. Washington DC: Inter-American Development Bank.
Francisco Gutierrez, Marıa Pinto, Juan Carlos Arenas, Tania Guzman and Marıa Gutierrez,
‘The Importance of Political Coalitions in the Successful Reduction of Violence in Colombian Cities’, Urban Studies, vol. 50, no. 15 (2013), pp. 3134–3151.
Achim Wennmann (2014) ‘Negotiated Exits from Organized Crime? Building Peace in Conflict and Crime-affected Contexts’. Negotiation Journal, vol.30, no.3, pp.255-273.
Verdad Abierta (2016) 5 Challenges Criminal Economies Pose for Post-Conflict Colombia, Insight Crime, 15 February.
6. Emerging topics
Friday, 2 November, 16.15-18.00
*Eduardo Moncada (2016) Cities, Business and the Politics of Urban Violence in Latin America. Standford: Stanfrod Univeristy Press. Chapter 1, pp. 1-33.
*Annika Björkdahl and Stephanie Kappler (2017) Peacebuilding and Spatial Transformation:
Fiona Terry and Brian McQuinn (2018) Roots of Restraint in War. Geneva: International Committee of the Red Cross. Introduction, pp. 12-15; Chapter 1, pp. 18-15, Chapter 6, pp. 64- 67.
7. Practical exercises
Saturday, 3 November, 9.15-17.00
