From Soldiers to Politicians. Transforming Rebel Movements After Civil War

In the transition from war-torn society to stable multiparty democracy, what is the role of former rebel leaders? Can rebel movements effectively transform themselves from military into political organizations? From Soldiers to Politicians explores how militias succeed or fail in reorienting their goals and practices toward legitimate political activities, and how external actors can support the rebel-to-party transformation.

The authors of this book present eight theoretically grounded studies on the FMLN (El Salvador), RENAMO (Mozambique), RUF (Sierra Leone), CNDD-FDD (Burundi), Hamas (Palestine), SPLM/A (Sudan), various warlord militias in Afghanistan and the LTTE (Sri Lanka), each focusing on a rebel movement's historical background, its attempted transformation into a political party, and the factors explaining its success or failure. Bridging the academic-policy divide, the country studies identify concrete lessons from past transformation processes, as well as options for future international involvement.

Contributing authors: Antonio Giustozzi, Luc van de Goor, Carrie Manning, Willy Nindorera, Paul Richards, Pamela Scholey, Chris Smith, James Vincent, Christine Wade, John Young, and Jeroen de Zeeuw (editor).

The book can be ordered via Lynne Rienner Publishers.

See Order Form (PDF) for orders in Europe and the United States.