Demagogues of Hate or Shepherds of Peace? Why 'Warlord Democrats' (Re)securitize Wartime Identities
Project overview
Project Leader
- Anders Themnér, Associate Professor
Project period
- 2015-2020
Project description
Democratization has been identified as a crucial mechanism when building peace after war. A by-product of such processes is that ex-military leaders often ‘reinvent’ themselves as democrats. Even if it may be necessary to embrace such ‘warlord democrats’ (WDs) to prevent them from returning to war, there are also considerable risks involved. In their quest for votes it is not uncommon that they use their electoral platforms to incite fear and cement wartime cleavages. They can either do this by using inflammatory rhetoric or engaging in confrontational electoral behaviour. At worst, such actions can undermine democratic institutions and trigger new outbursts of violence. To improve efforts to build stable and accountable democracy in post-civil war societies, it is therefore crucial to understand when and why WDs seek to (re)securitize wartime identities – held as speech acts and electoral practices that aim to keep war-affected communities polarized and in fear of each other. This project seeks to address this puzzle by comparing WDs in Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and South Sudan. We hypothesize that it is WDs that are unable to retain their position as brokers of patronage during transitions to democracy that attempt to (re)securitize wartime identities. To scrutinise the explanatory value of this proposition, empirical data will be gathered using social network analysis and interviews in each respective country, as well as textual analysis of statements made by the WDs in local newspapers.
Publications
- Themnér, Anders and Roxanna Sjöstedt, (2020), “Buying Them Off or Scaring Them Straight: Explaining the Electoral Rhetoric of Warlord Democrats,” Security Studies
- Söderberg Kovacs, Mimmi (2019), “The Legacy of a Revolution that Never Happened: The Post-War Politics of Former Rebel Party RUFP in Sierra Leone (pdf),” Government and Opposition, doi:10.1017/gov.2019.23
- Abraham, Fofana, Henrik Persson and Anders Themnér (2019), “Yesterday Warlord, Today Presidential Candidate: Ex-Military Leaders Running for Office in Post-Civil War Societies”, Policy Note, No. 4, (Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute).
- Söderberg Kovacs, Mimmi and Jesper Bjarneson (eds.) (2018), Violence in African Elections: Between Democracy and Big Man Politics, London: Zed Publishing.
- Söderberg Kovacs, Mimmi (2018), “Uncertainty, Competition and Violence in Sierra Leone’s Swing District,” in Mimmi Söderberg Kovacs and Jesper Bjarnesen (eds.), Violence in African Elections: Between Democracy and Big Man Politics. London: Zed Publishing.
- Bjarneson, Jesper and Mimmi Söderberg Kovacs (2018), “Violence in African Elections” NAI Policy Note, No 7, (Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute).
- Calissendorff, Love; Johan Brosché; Ralph Sundberg. 2018. “Dehumanization amidst Massacres: An Examination of Dinka-Nuer Intergroup Attitudes in South Sudan” Peace and Conflict: The Journal of Peace Psychology, Vol. 25, no 1
- Söderberg Kovacs, Mimmi and Ibrahim Bangura, (2017), “Shape-Shifters in the Struggle for Survival: Post-War Politics in Sierra Leone,” in Anders Themnér (ed.), Warlord Democrats in Africa: Ex-Military Leaders and Electoral Politics, 2017, London: Zed Publishing.
- Sjöstedt, Roxanna, Mimmi Söderberg-Kovacs, and Anders Themnér (2017), “Demagogues of Hate or Shepherds of Peace? Examining the Threat Construction Processes of Warlord Democrats in Sierra Leone and Liberia,” Journal of International Relations and Development, Vol 22, No. 3, pp. 560-83.
- Themnér, Anders and Carrie Manning (2017), "Discourses of Peace and Fear: The Electoral Navigations of Sekouh Conneh and Prince Johnson in Post-War Liberia", in Anders Themnér (ed.), Warlord Democrats in Africa: Ex-Military Leaders and Electoral Politics. London: Zed Publishing.
- Themnér, Anders (ed.) (2017), Warlord Democrats in Africa: The Security Effects of Integrating Ex-Military Leaders into Electoral Politics, London: Zed Publishing.
- Brosché, Johan & Kristine Högbladh (2017), “ Riek Machar: Warlord-Doctor in South Sudan”, in Anders Themnér (ed.), Warlord Democrats in Africa: The Security Effects of Integrating Ex-Military Leaders into Electoral Politics. London: Zed Publishing.
- Themnér, Anders (2017), "Warlord Democrats in Africa: Wartime Investments, Democratic Returns", in Anders Themnér (ed.), Warlord Democrats in Africa: The Security Effects of Integrating Ex-Military Leaders into Electoral Politics. London: Zed Publishing.
- Themnér, Anders (2017), "Ambiguous Peacelords", in Anders Themnér (ed.), Warlord Democrats in Africa: The Security Effects of Integrating Ex-Military Leaders into Electoral Politics. London: Zed Publishing.
- Brosché, Johan, and Kristine Höglund (2016), "Crisis of Governance in South Sudan: Electoral Politics in the World’s Newest Nation." Journal of Modern African Studies 54 (1):67-90.
- Brosché, Johan (2016), ”Humanitarian Catastrophe in South Sudan” Human Security 2016-03-29.
Main financial support
- Stiftelsen Marcus och Amalia Wallenbergs Minnesfond
- Swedish Research Council (U-forsk)