The Resolve Network

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30 November 2022 / Prisca Kamungi, Phoebe Donnelly, and Boglarka Bozsogi
Agitators and Pacifiers: Women in Community-based Armed Groups in Kenya
This research report is a case study of women’s participation in community-based armed groups (CBAGs) in Kenya. It examines: the diversity of women’s motivations to participate in community-based armed groups in Kenya; women’s roles and agency within community-based armed groups, communal conflicts, as well as community security and peacebuilding structures; and gender dynamics in conflict ecosystems, including social perceptions about women’s engagement in conflict. This case study contributes to the literature on women and CBAGs by examining the variations in their engagement across a single country, based on diverse local contexts. Data collection sites for the study included 1) the capital city, Nairobi; 2) Isiolo County; 3) Marsabit County; 4) Mombasa County; and 5) Bungoma County. Together, these sites provide insight into local conflict dynamics in rural and urban areas; on country borders and on the coast; and in communities with ethnic polarization, land conflicts, criminal gangs, and histories of violent extremism and secessionist movements. The Kenyan research team employed a qualitative approach to data collection through key informant interviews (KIIs), focus group discussions (FGDs), and the use of secondary source data. The findings show that there is no single template for understanding women’s engagement with CBAGs; instead, women’s motivations and roles within these groups are varied and highly contextual, just as with the motivations and roles of men. This study demonstrates the utility of context-specific analyses at the sub-national level to capture the range of women’s participation in and engagement with CBAGs and their greater contributions to the local security landscape. Suggested citation: Prisca Kamungi, Phoebe Donnelly, and Boglarka Bozsogi. Agitators and Pacifiers: Women in Community-based Armed Groups in Kenya. Washington, D.C.: RESOLVE Network, 2022. https://doi.org/10.37805/cbags2022.4.   Updated: December 2, 2022  
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25 January 2023 /
COMPENDIUM: Community-based Armed Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa: RESOLVE Network Research 2018-2022
This compendium brings together the collected work of RESOLVE’s 2018–2022 Community-Based Armed Groups Research Initiative. Launched in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development Africa Bureau, this research initiative sought to fill a gap in the literature on community-based armed groups in sub-Saharan Africa—often key actors in conflict-affected and fragile contexts, but highly localized and not well-understood. The papers in this volume are presented in a series of phases corresponding to the development of the research. Phase One involved mapping the existing literature to establish a common definition and typology of these groups, as well as options for engaging with them. Phase Two deepened these understandings through a series of case studies in West Africa. Phase Three added a sub-focus to this research initiative by mapping the  available literature on women in community-based armed groups, and Phase Four built upon that knowledge with a series of case studies in East and West Africa. Finally, Phase Five featured a set of case studies in Nigeria and Somalia on disengagement from violent extremist organizations, drawing on the personal experiences of former members to map their journeys into and out of these groups, providing a model for understanding disengagement and reintegration more broadly. Taken together, these publications lay the foundation for improved understanding of and responses to community-based armed groups in sub-Saharan Africa, and provide clear avenues for future research. The compendium is divided into six main parts, read each here: Foreword and Introductory Material Phase 1 Research: Mapping the Literature on Community-Based Armed Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa Phase 2 Research: Case Studies of Community-Based Armed Groups in West Africa Phase 3 Research: Mapping the Literature on Women in Community-Based Armed Groups in East and West Africa Phase 4 Research: Case Studies of Women’s Engagement with Community-Based Armed Groups in Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire Phase 5 Research: Case Studies of Violent Extremism Disengagement in Nigeria and Somalia   Suggested citation: RESOLVE Network. Compendium: Community-based Armed Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa: RESOLVE Network Research 2018-2022. Washington, D.C.: RESOLVE Network, 2023. https://doi.org/10.37805/cbags2023.1.
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26 October 2022 / Tanya Mehra & Julie Coleman
The Role of the UN Security Council in Countering Terrorism & Violent Extremism: The Limits of Criminalization?
After the 9/11 attacks, a united global community entered an era which saw the proliferation of United Nations entities and organs focused on responding to terrorism. These bodies were created, at least in part, in response to the recognized need for a comprehensive multilateral counter-terrorism architecture to ensure international peace and security in the face of the growing specter of violent extremism. This response has notably also included an array of UN Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs) adopted to counter the threat of terrorism. A little over 20 years after the adoption of Resolution 1373 (2001), 52 terrorism related resolutions now exist, creating an elaborate set of measures for Member States to implement. Despite this, however, terrorism was arguably more prevalent in 2021 than in 2001. A myriad of factors have led to the continued spread of terrorism, including the increasingly transnational nature of terrorists and terrorist networks, as well as the failure to adequately address the structural factors and underlying conditions that are conducive to the spread of violent extremism. In order to explain its persistence, one must not only examine the continued appeal of terrorist groups and violent extremist ideology and propaganda, but also reflect upon where, how, and why counter-terrorism responses have often failed to reduce the threat or, in some cases, even exacerbated the factors which give rise to terrorism in the first place. This includes the response of the Security Council, whose resolutions have created the obligation or expectation for Member States to continuously expand the criminalization of terrorism, without evidence that such an approach will lead to less terrorism. This brief focuses on how some UNSCRs include measures that require Member States to criminalize conduct that has historically fallen within the pre-crime space and lacks a clear link to terrorist activities, and examines the subsequent impact this has on human rights and the effectiveness of the criminal justice system. At the same time, it explores the role that States themselves have played in the exceptionalization of terrorism in terms of criminal justice responses. Finally, it offers recommendations for both the UNSC and Members States on how to ensure that counter-terrorism architecture can both be human-rights based and simultaneously conducive to promoting peace and security.   This research brief is the fourth in a series commissioned by the Securing the Future Initiative (SFI) and published by the RESOLVE Network. SFI is co-led by the Fourth Freedom Forum and The Soufan Center, with funding provided by generous support from the European Union, the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Launched in September 2021, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, SFI is conducting the first-ever independent review and assessment of the United Nations Security Council’s counterterrorism activities. Suggested citation:  Mehra, Tanya and Julie Coleman. The Role of the UN Security Council in Countering Terrorism & Violent Extremism: The Limits of Criminalization?. Washington, D.C.: RESOLVE Network, 2022. https://doi.org/10.37805/sfi2022.4. 
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27 October 2022 / Teuta Avdimetaj
Interacting with Trauma: Considerations and Reflections from Research in Kosovo
This chapter explores the role of trauma in violent extremism research, offering insights on its effects on the research process, providing insights on the radicalization process of individual cases, and informing reintegration prospects of returning foreign fighters and their family members. The chapter focuses on war-related trauma as a widespread experience in post-conflict societies, which may persist years after the war ends, scarring societies in numerous ways for generations and potentially creating an ongoing cycle of violence. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the available literature on the link between trauma and radicalization while bringing attention to existing gaps within this field. It then continues with insights from field research in Kosovo on how trauma was expressed among the family members of foreign fighters, including women returnees from the conflict zones in Syria and Iraq, and provides insight into how the author approached the subject in her own research.   Suggested Citation: Teuta Avdimetaj, Interacting with Trauma: Considerations and Reflections from Research in Kosovo, Washington, DC: RESOLVE Network, 2022.

Compendiums

25 January 2023

COMPENDIUM: Community-based Armed Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa: RESOLVE Network ...

This compendium brings together the collected work of RESOLVE’s 2018–2022 Community-Based Armed Groups Research Initiative. Launched in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development Africa Bureau, this research initiative sought to fill a gap in the literature on community-based armed groups in sub-Saharan Africa—often key actors in conflict-affected and fragile contexts, but highly localized and not well-understood. The papers in this volume are presented in a series of phases corresponding to the development of the research. Phase One involved mapping the existing literature to establish a common definition and typology of these groups, as well as options for engaging with them. Phase Two deepened these understandings through a series of case studies in West Africa. Phase Three added a sub-focus to this research initiative by mapping the  available literature on women in community-based armed groups, and Phase Four built upon that knowledge with a series of case studies in East and West Africa. Finally, Phase Five featured a set of case studies in Nigeria and Somalia on disengagement from violent extremist organizations, drawing on the personal experiences of former members to map their journeys into and out of these groups, providing a model for understanding disengagement and reintegration more broadly. Taken together, these publications lay the foundation for improved understanding of and responses to community-based armed groups in sub-Saharan Africa, and provide clear avenues for future research. The compendium is divided into six main parts, read each here: Foreword and Introductory Material Phase 1 Research: Mapping the Literature on Community-Based Armed Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa Phase 2 Research: Case Studies of Community-Based Armed Groups in West Africa Phase 3 Research: Mapping the Literature on Women in Community-Based Armed Groups in East and West Africa Phase 4 Research: Case Studies of Women’s Engagement with Community-Based Armed Groups in Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire Phase 5 Research: Case Studies of Violent Extremism Disengagement in Nigeria and Somalia   Suggested citation: RESOLVE Network. Compendium: Community-based Armed Groups in Sub-Saharan Africa: RESOLVE Network Research 2018-2022. Washington, D.C.: RESOLVE Network, 2023. https://doi.org/10.37805/cbags2023.1.

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