Guns, Camps and Cash: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reinsertion of Former Combatants in Transitions from War to Peace

The process of disarmament, demobilization, reinsertion, and reintegration (DDRR) of former combatants plays a critical role in transitions from war to peace and directly affects the long-term peacebuilding prospects for any post-conflict society. The aim of this article is to conduct an assessment of DDR programs planned or implemented throughout the 1980s and 1990s to explore their principal characteristics. First, the majority of these DDR initiatives adopted the 'one-gun-per-person-demobilization' approach, but the article questions whether there is a need for a more comprehensive consideration of disarmament by acknowledging and responding to its social, economic, and political implications. Disarmament as a social contract is proposed as an alternative to the current military-centered approach. Second, experience also indicates a tendency towards the inclusion of cantonment in the demobilization phase, but the article questions the implications of cantonment on the successful implementation of the whole DDRR process and explores possible approaches to demobilization without cantonment. Finally, the article focuses on the effectiveness of cash payments during reinsertion as an easier alternative to the provision of other material assistance. Although the focus of this article will be the DDR phases, before carrying out this review, we will first explore the relationship between DDRR and peace-building in order to provide an overall theoretical framework. [Author]