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29 Int'l Peacekeeping 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/intlpkpg29 and id is 1 raw text is: INTERNATIONAL PEACEKEEPING Routledge 2022, VOL. 29, NO. 1, 1-23 https://doi.org/1 0.1080/13533312.2021.1952408 Taylor&Francis Group Carla Suareza and Erin Bainesb 'Centre for Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Canada; School of Public Policy & Global Affairs, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) processes will often dismantle the command-and-control structures of non-state armed groups (NSAGs) to prevent possible remobilization. Recent studies demonstrate that in some cases ex-combatant networks provide important social and economic support that hasten transitions to civilian life; however, this literature focuses exclusively on networks that emerge among commanders, peers, and foot soldiers. In this article, we broaden existing literature on ex- combatant networks by examining the role that family relations play in combatants' war and post-war trajectory. Drawing on 18 life history interviews with former male combatants from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) we argue that the familial can often be as influential as peer-relations. Specifically, our study shows that, first, familiies can shape the defection, demobilization, and reintegration processes of ex-combatants, and, second, ex-combatant networks can play an important role in facilitating the reunion of families in the aftermath of war. The endurance of familial relations forged within NSAGs pose important considerations to DDR policies. KEWO2RDS Demobilization; reintegration; Uganda; ex-combatants; post-conflict In 2002, Lt Colonel Francis Lapaicho Oyat secretly released his two 'wives' and four children from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an armed group that institutionalized forced marriage and pregnancy during a more than CONTACT Carla Suarez carla.suarez@graduateinstitute.ch We place the words 'wives' and 'husbands' in quotation marks to recognize that the LRA used a strategy of forced marriage and pregnancy to achieve its political goals. For women's experiences in these con- jugal arrangements, see: Acan, Not Yet Sunset; Amony, I am Evelyn Amony; Baines, Buried in the Heart; Baines, Forced Marriage as a Political Project. For men's experiences in these conjugal arrangements see: Aijazi and Baines, Relationality, culpability and consent and Denov and Drumbl, The Many Harms of Forced Marriage. As Dubal argues, and we document here, some relationships deepened over time, resulting in lasting unions. See Dubal, Against Humanity. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDer- ivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distri- bution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.