The ethics of child-soldiering in the Congo
Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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The ethics of child-soldiering in the Congo. / Hoffmann, Kasper.
I: Young, Bind 18, Nr. 3, 2010, s. 339-358.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The ethics of child-soldiering in the Congo
AU - Hoffmann, Kasper
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - In cutting-edge conflict theory, 'young men' are framed as a potential source of violence and insecurity in underdeveloped countries, especially in the so-called 'failed states'. Supposedly, 'young men' bereft of socio-economic opportunities constitute a dangerous sub-population which can easily be recruited by 'Spoilers', or warlords when the pursuit of personal gain through the use of violence is rational; that is, in situations where the state has failed and therefore has no monopoly over the means of violence. Drawing on fieldwork among the Maï-Maï of South Kivu, I challenge the notion that the young fighters of the Maï-Maï were easily lured into the militias because they lacked other exit strategies. Recruitment actually followed a much more complex pattern. The young Maï-Maï fighters were either forcefully recruited or joined voluntarily for one or more of the following reasons: In order to exact vengeance on the 'enemy', for personal protection; to fight for national liberation; to protect a given community; for the right to enjoy the spoils of modernity; and to recast a disempowered and humiliated self into a vigorous and virile subject. In this article, therefore, I argue that recruitment into a non-state armed group was a question of ethics instead of the machinations of a universal instinct secretly at work.
AB - In cutting-edge conflict theory, 'young men' are framed as a potential source of violence and insecurity in underdeveloped countries, especially in the so-called 'failed states'. Supposedly, 'young men' bereft of socio-economic opportunities constitute a dangerous sub-population which can easily be recruited by 'Spoilers', or warlords when the pursuit of personal gain through the use of violence is rational; that is, in situations where the state has failed and therefore has no monopoly over the means of violence. Drawing on fieldwork among the Maï-Maï of South Kivu, I challenge the notion that the young fighters of the Maï-Maï were easily lured into the militias because they lacked other exit strategies. Recruitment actually followed a much more complex pattern. The young Maï-Maï fighters were either forcefully recruited or joined voluntarily for one or more of the following reasons: In order to exact vengeance on the 'enemy', for personal protection; to fight for national liberation; to protect a given community; for the right to enjoy the spoils of modernity; and to recast a disempowered and humiliated self into a vigorous and virile subject. In this article, therefore, I argue that recruitment into a non-state armed group was a question of ethics instead of the machinations of a universal instinct secretly at work.
KW - Child soldiers
KW - Conflict
KW - Ethics
KW - Maï-Maï
KW - Rationality and morality
KW - Security
KW - Youth
U2 - 10.1177/110330881001800306
DO - 10.1177/110330881001800306
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:77954735183
VL - 18
SP - 339
EP - 358
JO - Young
JF - Young
SN - 1103-3088
IS - 3
ER -
ID: 229900010