From political economies of war to political economies of peace: The contribution of DDR after wars of predation

Can disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) be a means to ‘jump start’ a transition to a political economy for peace? This essay considers the key groups targeted in DDR – individual fighters, middle-level officers and leaderships – and each element of a DDR campaign with a focus on political economy issues. This leads to suggestions for reorienting some elements of DDR campaigns to place more emphasis on looking after middle-ranked officers, for the international community to place much emphasis on an often under-resourced part of the process, reintegration, and for more parallel attention to dealing with illicit economic activities.