INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF IRREGULAR WARFARE: THE CASE OF DARFUR

Abstract

Legitimacy as a social-political notion is oftentimes invoked to study intra-state conflicts, but it is rarely analyzed directly. This article uses institutional analysis to assess qualitatively, but more directly, the role of state legitimacy in irregular conflicts. It uses the case of Darfur not only because it is a conflict that is similar in its dynamics to a number of other conflicts in the developing world, but also because it highlights the critical importance of legitimacy in the use of force by a state. This study shows in the particular case of Darfur that normative and cognitive factors are fully imbricated with rational parameters in the development of the alliance between Khartoum and the Janjaweed, and in turns identifies some of the deeper reasons for the fragility of such alliance. Legitimnost kot družbenopolitični pojem se velikokrat omenja pri obravnavi konf- liktov znotraj držav, vendar se le redko neposredno analizira. Avtor članka z institu- cionalno analizo kvalitativno in neposredno oceni vlogo državne legitimnosti pri nekonvencionalnih konfliktih. Uporabi primer Darfurja, vendar ne le zato, ker gre za konflikt, ki je podoben dinamiki številnih drugih konfliktov v državah v razvoju, temveč tudi zato, ker poudarja velik pomen legitimnosti pri tem, da država uporabi silo. Študija na primeru Darfurja pokaže, da se normativni in kognitivni dejavniki pri razvoju zavezništva med Kartumom in milicami džandžavid povsem prekrivajo z racionalnimi parametri, izmenično pa opredeljuje tudi nekaj globljih razlogov za ranljivost tovrstnega zavezništva.