No / Demilitarization of conflict and society is crucial to building sustainable peace in countries emerging from the scourge of civil war. As longstanding conflicts come to an end, processes which facilitate the potentially volatile transition from formal peace to social peace are critically important. At the heart of the exercise is the necessity of transforming the culture and the instruments of war - demilitarization - including disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating (DDR) former combatants into society. This volume represents the first in-depth and comprehensive discussion of reintegration of former combatants in war to peace transitions. In addition to a systematic reflection and review of existing literature on DDR, the authors devised and applied a field research methodology to studying the reintegration of former combatants in Angola with potentially significant implications on the design and implementation of DDR programmes. The volume is written for academics, students and practitioners focusing on war to peace transitions and post-conflict issues.

In recent decades we have seen an increase in peace processes aimed at solving armed conflicts through peaceful means. The often fragile characteristics of such processes and the settlements that they produce underline the essential importance of improving our understanding of the dynamics at play in transitions from war to peace. This thesis aims to contribute to this overarching objective by analysing ceasefire agreements in relation to peace processes in two protracted intrastate armed conflicts: Aceh, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. In the scholarly literature, ceasefire agreements are often assumed to create momentum due to their ability to pave the way to a peaceful solution. At the same time, it has also been suggested that ceasefires can influence conflict dynamics in negative ways. Although there are many unanswered questions about ceasefire agreements in contemporary peace processes, few studies have been devoted to systematic and in-depth analysis of how ceasefire agreements can be characterized and analysed in relation to peace processes in protracted intrastate conflicts. This thesis, which is based on written documents and on interviews conducted during four research trips to the region, contributes to filling this research gap by presenting comparative case studies of Aceh and Sri Lanka. The point of departure in the study is a process-oriented, conflict dynamics approach and a view that war-to-peace transitions require changes in the conflicting parties’ attitudes, behaviours and relationships. I analyse and compare ceasefire agreements by looking at their initiation, form and content, and by examining their implementation and the unfolding of the processes. I identify six key factors in the literature that can influence the conflicting parties’ attitudes, behaviours and relationships. I then use these factors to analyse ceasefire agreements in relation to the dynamics of the broader peace processes. In this thesis I show how these key factors – including issues of recognition, trust, whether the parties’ claims are met, international involvement, contextual changes and intra-party dynamics – have mattered. I also show that context is important for understanding how and why they have mattered. The results suggest that ceasefire agreements can facilitate war-topeace transitions; however, it also illuminates challenges and the risk that such agreements can be counter-productive in the context of intrastate conflicts. The study also shows that ceasefire agreements have a historical legacy, as illustrated by their impact on subsequent interactions and agreements, and it underlines the symbolic politics of ceasefires in asymmetrical intrastate conflicts. The thesis ends with a number of propositions, among others that ceasefire agreements tend to become more comprehensive over time and that power struggles and developments within the conflicting parties are important for understanding ceasefire agreements in relation to contemporary peace processes.

After more than 50 years of internal armed conflict, Colombia has entered into a stage of postconflict after a peace agreement was signed in 2016. This process will be challenging for the country, as the conflict has created increased poverty and segregation as well as a lack of opportunities for those that have been affected by the conflict. This thesis collects perceptions of international humanitarian actors working in the Colombian context, and their perception on how humanitarian action can be used to strengthen the Colombian post-conflict process. Through a theoretical standpoint of Institutionalization Before Liberalization (IBL) theory by Roland Paris (2004), the findings were collected. Key findings include the need to recognize the humanitarian needs in Colombia despite the conflict ending, the importance of building knowledge in society about the peace agreement and make room for transition of experience and knowledge from the humanitarian field to the government and development actors. Analysing the findings, it shows that Colombia’s current peace transition would be furthered by strengthening the nation’s institutions and making long-term strategies on how to create electoral and societal systems that would unite and reconcile the population. It also shows that while the IBL theory is applicable to the Colombian post-conflict process, it fails to capture educational components that are deemed essential by the interviewed organizations. The thesis concludes that humanitarian organizations should be viewed as pivotal actors for the implementation of the Colombian peace agreement and that the Colombian government and international donors needs to put aside long-term resources and time to create a post-conflict society that will foster guarantees of the armed conflict not returning to Colombia.

This thesis explores the concept of hybridity within the context of rebel-to-party transformation, with a particular focus on Renamo during the period of 2015-2017 in Mozambique. This timeframe was marked by a resurgence of organised systematic violence, disrupting the relative peace that had prevailed in Mozambique since 1992. The central conflict revolved around the issue of local self-governance, with Renamo asserting its claim to govern in six out of Mozambique's ten provinces. During this period, Renamo operated both as a political party with a significant presence in parliament and as an armed group engaged in systematic violence. The rebel-to-party literature has sparked discussions about groups that seem to retain elements of their violent past while transitioning into political parties, leading to the emergence of the concept of hybrid parties. However, this concept remains relatively undefined and underexplored. This thesis seeks to contribute to this discussion through an in-depth qualitative study of Renamo's elite-level politicians, aiming to enhance our understanding of hybrid parties. The study, conducted during the conflict years, closely examines how elite politicians in Renamo navigate their dual roles. It encompasses 14 months of fieldwork from February 2015 to January 2017, drawing on elite interviews, elite-level public statements, and elite observations of parliament, enriched by ethnographic sensibility. The analysis is grounded in a theoretical framework that allows for an exploration of Renamo's behaviour and perceptions as both an armed group and a political party, particularly concerning the issue of local self-governance. Through this analysis, the study aims to elucidate the intersections, thereby advancing our comprehension of how hybridity manifests. The main findings suggest that Renamo's hybridity predominantly manifests through processes related to contemporaneity in behaviour, elite-level legitimisation, and one key political issue. Furthermore, I argue that the hybridity is maintained through narratives of democracy and a charismatic leader. The thesis advocates for a deeper exploration of these processes to enhance both empirical understanding and the theoretical discussion surrounding hybrid parties.