Abstract:
The use of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) as a post-conflict and peacebuilding tool by the United Nations (UN) and major international actors has proliferated since the 1980s. Evolving from a practice addressing state-centric security to one focused on development goals, DDR is entering a new phase — third generation political reintegration. In this phase, the UN Security Council is issuing mandates in environments where mercenaries, foreign fighters and terrorists increasingly dot the conflict landscape. In this setting, countering violent extremism (CVE) and DDR have started to intersect globally. Currently, there is no policy guidance governing DDR and CVE. DDR continues to be guided by the Integrated DDR Standards (IDDRS) while CVE focuses on foreign fighters from Europe and North America who return home.
Disaggregating the three generations of DDR since the 1980s, this brief offers policy makers concrete and actionable measures addressing the DDR-CVE interface for foreign fighters who do not return and undergo DDR. It offers recommendations for DDR in CVE as a conflict prevention tool and, in doing so, shifts towards social reintegration as a primer for socio-economic reintegration accompanying the notion of political agency and transformation of non-state armed groups. Taken together, these offer an innovative policy framework addressing DDR and CVE.