Re-imagining DDR
| Author | Peter Shirlow,Kieran McEvoy |
| Published date | 01 February 2009 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1362480608100172 |
| Date | 01 February 2009 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Re-imagining DDR
Ex-combatants, leadership and moral agency in
conflict transformation
KIERAN MCEVOY AND PETER SHIRLOW
Queen’s University Belfast, UK
Abstract
Drawing upon criminological studies in the field of prisoner
rehabilitation, this essay explores the relevance of the
Demobilisation, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR) framework
to the process of conflict transformation in Northern Ireland. In a
similar fashion to the critique of ‘passivity’ offered by, for
example, the ‘strengths based’ or ‘good lives’ approach to
prisoner resettlement and reintegration more generally, the
authors contend that the Northern Ireland peace process offers
conspicuous examples of former prisoners and combatants as
agents and indeed leaders in the process of conflict
transformation. They draw out three broad styles of leadership
which have emerged amongst ex-combatants over the course of
the Northern Ireland transition from conflict—political,militar y
and communal. They suggest that cumulatively such leadership
speaks to the potential of ex-prisoners and ex-combatants as
moral agents in conflict transformation around which
peacemaking can be constructed rather than as obstacles which
must be ‘managed’ out of existence.
Key Words
agency •demobilisation •disarmament •ex-combatants •
leadership •reintegration
Theoretical Criminology
© 2009 SAGE Publications
Los Angeles, London,
New Delhi and Singapore
www.sagepublications.com
Vol. 13(1): 31–59; 1362–4806
DOI: 10.1177/1362480608100172
31
Introduction and background
The image of Sinn Féin’s deputy leader Martin McGuinness and the
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley sharing power in
Northern Ireland has been rightly lauded as an example par excellence of
successful conflict transformation (Hain, 2007). While the process has been
characterised by tortuously slow progress and numerous seemingly insur-
mountable impasses (ultimately overcome) since the Good Friday
Agreement was signed in 1998 (Aughey, 2005; Bew, 2007), the broader tra-
jectory towards peace has been sustained. This paper explores the role that
politically motivated ex-prisoners1and ex-combatants have played in main-
taining that momentum, particularly ‘on the ground’ in communities most
affected by violence (Shirlow and Murtagh, 2006).
The essay begins with an exploration of the out-workings in Northern
Ireland of the framework most often applied to ex-combatants and released
politically motivated prisoners in former conflict zones, i.e. Disarmament,
Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR). Then, drawing from recent crim-
inological scholarship on different variants of reintegration in particular
(discussed elsewhere in this issue), the essay develops a critique of the pas-
sivity which permeates muchof the writings and practice of DDR. It suggests
instead three overlapping leadership styles which (it is argued) are discern-
able amongst former prisonersand ex-combatants in Northern Ireland. Each
of these speaks directly to the question of moral agency in conflict transfor-
mation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the relevance of the
Northern Ireland experienceto peacemaking efforts elsewhere, both in other
transitional societies and indeed in other more ‘settled’ contexts.
Before examining some of these broader questions, it might be useful at
this juncture to offer some background to the research in this article in par-
ticular and to the reintegration of former prisoners and ex-combatants
more generally in Northern Ireland.
First, with regard to this essay, it merges individual and collaborative
work with, and research on, serving and former politically motivated pris-
oners and ex-combatants conducted over the past two decades in Northern
Ireland (see e.g. Gormally et al., 1993; McEvoy, 2001; Shirlow, 2001;
Shirlow and McEvoy, 2008). Most recently the authors completed a major
study of 300 former Republican and Loyalist prisoners and 150 family
members (75 from each community) based in North and West Belfast.
Facilitated by Republican and Loyalist ex-prisoner organisations (Coiste na
n-Iarchimí and EPIC respectively), that research involved surveying the for-
mer prisoners and their families, as well as a series of workshops, focus
groups and a range of semi-structured interviews (see Shirlow and McEvoy,
2008 for further discussion). The fieldwork referred to in this essay is
drawn from that most recent study.
With regard to the experience of former politically motivated prisoners
more generally in Northern Ireland, under the terms of the 1998 Agreement,
all qualifying paramilitary prisoners belonging to organisations on ceasefire
Theoretical Criminology 13(1)
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