Weapons of War, Weapons of Peace: DDR Processes in Peacemaking

Recent trends in international responses to civil war and humanitarian crises highlight the growing importance of multilateral intervention by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs). Academics and practitioners agree that higher levels of cooperation should yield better outcomes, while the literature emphasizes the importance of commitment. Yet the question of how organizations collaborate with each other and local authorities remains largely uncharted, despite its growing importance for the future of international peacemaking and peacebuilding. This paper analyzes DDR processes within the context of organizational networks and programme 'ownership.' It extends existing literature by adding nuanced understandings of ownership and assessment of the interactive processes through which the programme is offered as factors in understanding outcomes. The paper focuses on two factors - ownership and collaboration (both type and scope) -to analyze how IGOs interact and in particular comprise or respond to the local/international nexus of DDR peacemaking and peacebuilding. Its findings suggest that no single factor is sufficient for understanding DDR outcomes. Contrary to standard beliefs, the locus of ownership of may not be as critical as other factors, and context may be more important to outcomes than incentives. These findings define areas for further research related to specific combinations of factors and the causal dynamics and challenges of collaboration among participants.