The Political Transformation of Armed and Banned Groups

The paper provides key insight on the factors that might explain why some armed groups undergo effective transformations from engaging in war and violence to participating in peaceful political processes, while others fail to implement or consolidate their political project. Highlighting the critical role played by the UN system in these contexts, in particular peacekeeping and political missions, it argues that development actors operating globally, such as UNDP, are also well placed to bring a broad range of expertise and instruments when supporting these transformative processes. However, it underscores that enhancing inter-agency collaboration between UNDP and actors directly involved in political processes will be essential in supporting this work, citing the Joint UNDP-DPA Programme on Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention as a particularly effective mechanism in this regard.

Authors

Véronique Dudouet, Katrin Planta, Hans-Joachim Giessmann

Entry on UNDP website