Recruitment and DDR: The case of Liberia

This paper argues that if Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) programmes have evolved from conflict resolution mechanisms to conflict prevention mechanisms, then there must be a greater focus on the nature of the recruitment relationship between the faction and the individual. Based on the theoretical and empirical work of Pugel, Humphreys, and Weinstein, the project uses the case of Liberia and its ex-combatants to support the theory that factions with different social and economic endowments will recruit individuals seeking out those endowments. It concludes that in the case of Liberia and other DDR programmes, there has been an overemphasis on short-term employment solutions for ex-combatants, that DDR should provide more methods to include those ex-combatants who wish to participate in the rebuilding and reconciliation process, and that continued emphasis on the context of the individual is essential.