Integration or separation? The stigmatisation of ex-combatants after war

Abstract

AbstractEx-combatant reintegration programmes are buttressed by a number of problematic assumptions about ex-combatants themselves; namely, that ex-combatants should not receive long-term support because such assistance would amplify the threat they pose to security and exacerbate community resentment towards them. The article uses data collected from Liberia to demonstrate that such thinking stigmatises ex-combatants and works against the objective of reintegration: it disruptsintegration intothe everyday social, economic, and political life of the post-conflict state and aims instead to render ex-combatantsseparate fromcommunities. Integration will remain elusive unless assumptions about ex-combatants as programme beneficiaries are challenged.