This book develops the discourse on the experiences of ex-combatants and their transition from war to peace, from the perspective of scholars across disciplines. Ex-combatants are often overlooked and ignored in the post-conflict search for memory and understanding, resulting in their voice being excluded or distorted. This collection seeks to disclose something of the lived experience of ex-combatants who have made the transition from war to peace to help to understand some of the difficulties they have encountered in social and emotional reintegration in the wake of combat. These include: motivations and mobilizations to participation in military struggle; the material difficulties experienced in social reintegration after the war; the emotional legacies of conflict; the discourses they utilize to reconcile their past in a society moving forward from conflict toward peace; and ex-combatants' subsequent engagement - or not - in peacebuilding. It also examines the contributions that former combatants have made to post-conflict compromise, reconciliation and peacebuilding. It focusses on male non-state actors, women, child soldiers and, unusually, state veterans, and complements previous volumes which captured the voices of victims in Northern Ireland, South Africa and Sri Lanka. This volume speaks to those working in the areas of sociology, criminology, security studies, politics, and international relations, and professionals working in social justice and human rights NGOs.

Autorentext
John D. Brewer is Professor of Post Conflict Studies sat Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Honorary Professor Extraordinary at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Azrini Wahidin is Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Co-Director for the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender Studies at Warwick University, UK.

Inhalt
Chapter 1 John D. Brewer and Azrini Wahidin Introduction Chapter 2 John D. BrewerListening to Ex-Combatants' Voices
Chapter 3 Azrini WahidinFemale Ex-Combatants in the Irish Republican Army and the Rocky Road to Peace
Chapter 4 Dave MageeThe Experiences of Loyalist Ex-Combatants on their Journey from Conflict to Peace
Chapter 5 John D. Brewer'Sin by silence': The Claims to Moral Legitimacy Amongst Northern Irish Paramilitaries
Chapter 6 John D. Brewer and Stephen Herron British Counter Insurgency Veterans in Afghanistan Chapter 7 Malose Langa, Godfrey Maringira and Modiefe MerafeContested Voices of Former Combatants in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Chapter 8 Siphokazi MagadlaThe Lives of Women Ex-Combatants in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Chapter 9 Wilhelm Verwoerd and Theresa Edlmann'Why Did I Die?': South African Defence Force Conscripts Pre- and Post-1994
Chapter 10 Allen KiconcoAn African comparison: Girl Soldiers Returning from a Rebel Group in Northern Uganda
Chapter 11 Bhavani Fonseka Reflections on the Role of Female Cadres in the LTTE
Chapter 12 Ashleigh McFeetersMedia Representations of Women Ex-Combatants in Sri Lanka
Chapter 13 Azrini WahidinConcluding reflections
Index