Ex-Combatants’ Choices: Reintegrating Together or Alone – Effects on Political Participation

Reintegration of ex-combatants takes place in different ways and in many different global contexts. This report looks at the reintegration of armed groups from three different conflicts and country contexts – respectively, the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG), the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Nepal and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP). The focus is on the post-conflict social and political participation of these ex-combatants. A considerable amount of research has been conducted on reintegration processes, but the focus has mainly been on security and socio-economic factors and less on social factors and group identity. The report builds on 153 interviews with female and male ex-combatants from Guatemala, Nepal and Colombia. The main research question in this report is how collective and individual reintegration affects the degree of social and political participation among the ex-combatants. The report incorporates a gender perspective into the analysis of this question.