The Persistence of Military Identities Among Ex-combatants in South Africa. Cape Town: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape.
This report focuses on the ways in which ex-combatants have remained militarised at both an individual and a collective level in post-apartheid South Africa. It argues that ex-combatants' military identities and skills can be both beneficial and detrimental to their families, communities and the state. For this reason, as long as DDRR programmes remain short-term processes aimed chiefly at disarming ex-combatants without addressing their ongoing needs in highly unequal and violent societies, the demilitarisation of ex-combatants' minds and everyday lives will be an unattainable goal.
Jasmina Brankovic is a transitional justice researcher and practitioner. She is a Senior Researcher with the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Transitional Justice. With a focus on participatory methods, she conducts research on inequality and socioeconomic transformation, climate justice, gender in conflict, and civil society strategies for social change in transitional contexts.
