Victimhood and the adaptive agency of child soldiers

Dominant humanitarian and legal discourses homogenise child soldiers as passive and coerced victims. These narratives obscure the complex ways in which child soldiers navigate conflict. Building on contemporary theories of agency, this article proposes an adaptive conception of agency as a conceptual framework for understanding how children exercise meaningful, though constrained, choices under conditions of oppression. Through analysis of diverse enlistment pathways and relationships to conflict, it argues for a diachronic understanding of agency that recognises both coercion and tactical adaption. Recognising adaptive agency allows for a more sophisticated evaluation of children’s roles in conflict, challenging paternalistic frameworks that silence their voices.