Former Armed Groups in Power and Post-war Youth Policies

Abstract

This research brief discusses the role of youth in relation to rebel-to-party transitions and how to improve the inclusion of youth in such processes, bringing about genuine youth participation. There is a growing recognition that youth are key actors in achieving sustainable peace in post-war settings. Still, both national political leaders and international policymakers often see large youth populations as a potential threat to stability. The main youth-centred strategy of former rebel parties in power has been to control and co-opt this population without opening up for genuine youth representation. This research brief series has been initiated through a collaboration between the Politics After War (PAW) research network, the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), and the United Nations Depart¬ment of Peace Operations, Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions: DDR Section (UNDPO/OROLSI/DDR) with the aim to provide research perspectives and scientific evidence on the inter¬section of DDR and politics with a particular em¬phasis on the transformative dynamics of armed groups and combatants.