Liberalism and Constructivism: Peace and DDR in the Democratic Republic of the Congo*

Throughout Africa, there has been a rising amount of civil unrest. The continent has been plagued with genocide, resource wars, ethnic conflict and civil war. In recent years, the world has seen multiple efforts to create peace throughout Africa. While there have been many peace accords signed throughout the region, the success of creating stable peace has not been achieved. In response to the continual failure of the internal peace process, the international community has decided to intervene. One form of intervention, administered by the United Nations, is the process of demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR). This is a Western, liberal approach aimed at providing stabilizing peace for former combatants in post-conflict areas. It is meant to remove former combatants from their rebel forces, disarm them and provide a means for the soldiers to exist in the civilian community, the national army or national police force. While the process has been used in Africa for nearly two decades the majority of its use has ended in failure to promote peace. Regardless of its failure, the policy continues to be implemented recently in the Great Lakes Region, specifically the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In an effort to understand DDR's failure, this paper will examine the liberal assumptions of the peace process and critique its use in the DRC.