Politics in the Shadow of the Gun: The Political Legacies of Rebellions for Party Politics after Civil War (in Burundi and Beyond)
Politics in the Shadow of the Gun: The Political Legacies of Rebellions for Party Politics after Civil War (in Burundi and Beyond)
Event Date: November 11, 2015 - 16:30 Location: Social Sciences Building, 120 University Pvt., room 4004
KATRIN WITTIG, Université de Montréal.
Presented by the CIPS and the Fragile States Research Network (FSRN).
Free. In English with bilingual question period. Registration is not required. Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.
Video of the event:
Since the end of the Cold War, the transformation of rebel groups into political parties has become one way of integrating former armed movements into the ‘post-conflict’ political order during liberal war-to-peace transitions. Over the last years, scholars and practitioners have examined the specific conditions under which rebel groups decide to transform into political parties. However, the long-term implications for peace, democratization and party politics have received only limited attention. How does the history and legacy of armed struggle affect the way in which former rebel groups engage in politics after officially renouncing the armed struggle? This presentation discusses this question by looking at the specific case of Burundi, where two major rebel groups converted into the current ruling party and a major opposition force.
Katrin Wittig is a PhD student and a 2012 Trudeau Scholar in the Political Science Department at the Université de Montréal. She is specialising in questions related to conflict resolution, peace processes and the promotion of democracy in societies emerging from civil conflict, especially in the African Great Lakes Region. In her doctoral thesis, she examines the transformation of rebel groups into political parties and the integration of ex-combatants into the post-conflict society.
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