WOMEN, DDR AND POST-CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION: LESSONS FROM THE CASES OF BOSNIA AND SOUTH AFRICA
WOMEN, DDR AND POST-CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION: LESSONS FROM THE CASES OF BOSNIA AND SOUTH AFRICA

Summary/Abstract: Men and women often have different approaches to and understandings of issues of war and peace, ending conflict, post-conflict disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) and reconciliation, and different expectations for their society’s future. This article focuses on a series of critical research questions regarding the post-conflict period and DDR process: How were women affected by the conflict and what role(s) did they play in ending the conflict? What are the lessons from previous conflict situations that can be applied to current or future conflict situations? What are the practical applications of what we have learned to date? DDR is a process, and the way in which it is handled, specifically who is involved and how inclusive it is, has implications for the society that emerges at the end of the conflict. This is especially true regarding the roles that women do – or too often do not – play. The literature, as well as lessons of past cases, is instructive in reinforcing the importance of including women in the DDR process, yet they are often omitted for structural as well as political reasons. This article examines two case studies, Bosnia-Herzegovina and South Africa, in order to draw some general conclusions about women and post-conflict transformation and why their inclusion is so critical to the future “peace” in a society that had been in conflict. Drawing on the literature as well as interviews and archival research, the authors arrive at some conclusions that could provide a basis for broader generalizations to other cases. pp. 11–53

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