'The Social Processes of Civil War The Wartime Transformation of Social Networks

ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
The Social Processes of

Civil War: The Wartime
Transformation of
Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 2008.11:539-561. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org
Social Networks
by Syddansk University on 04/06/14. For personal use only.
Elisabeth Jean Wood

Department of Political Science, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520;
and Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501; email: elisabeth.wood@yale.edu
Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 2008. 11:539–61 Key Words

First published online as a Review in Advance on violence, political polarization, political mobilization,
March 4, 2008
displacement, militarization, gender roles
The Annual Review of Political Science is online at
http://polisci.annualreviews.org Abstract
This article’s doi: Little attention has been paid to the social processes of civil war—the
10.1146/annurev.polisci.8.082103.104832
transformation of social actors, structures, norms, and practices—
Copyright c 2008 by Annual Reviews. that sometimes leave enduring legacies for the postwar period. In this
All rights reserved
article, I explore the changes wrought by six social processes: political
1094-2939/08/0615-0539$20.00 mobilization, military socialization, polarization of social identities,
This article is also part of the Domestic Political Violence militarization of local authority, transformation of gender roles, and
and Civil War compilation.
fragmentation of the local political economy. Some of these social
processes occur in peacetime, but war may radically change their
pace, direction, or consequences, with perhaps irreversible effects.
I trace the wide variation in these processes during the wars in four
countries: Peru, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, and Sierra Leone. I analyze
the effects of these processes as transformations in social networks.
These processes reconfigure social networks in a variety of ways,
creating new networks, dissolving some, and changing the structure
of others.
539
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
INTRODUCTION agency of ordinary people struggling to real-

ize life projects in the context of war in ways
Scholars have recently opened up the “black
shaped by prewar social norms and patterns as
box” of civil wars, exploring the bargaining
well as violence. In contrast to Lubkemann,
aspects of war, the logic of wartime violence,
who focuses on how life projects in partic-
the forging of institutions likely to contribute
ular settings lead to contrasting patterns of
to durable settlements, and the challenges of
wartime migration, I widen the focus to dis-
postwar demobilization and reconstruction.
cuss a variety of social processes. I do not ad-
An important recent advance is the emphasis
dress the legacy of civil war for processes of
on analyzing variation in patterns of violence,
state and regime formation.
participation, and institution building across
As with other aspects of civil war, it is ex-
civil wars.
tremely difficult to measure the extent of these
Despite these advances in scholarly under-
social processes. I trace the variation in these

standing, less attention has been paid to the
processes during the wars in four countries
social processes of civil war—by which I mean
chosen to illustrate the wide differences in
the transformation of social actors, structures,
these processes, namely, Peru, El Salvador,

norms, and practices at the local level—that
Sri Lanka, and Sierra Leone. As we shall see,
sometimes leave profound social changes in
patterns of violence, processes of mobilization
their wake. The literature describing and an-
and recruitment, and the extent to which lo-
alyzing these processes in their divergent pat-
cal authorities were militarized, gender roles
terns is dominated by case studies and policy
transformed, and economies fragmented var-
discussion, with as yet insufficient attention to
ied widely across these conflicts. This arti-
causal analysis and comparison across cases.
cle draws on field research I conducted for
In this article, I explore six social processes:
26 months in El Salvador as well as short trips
political mobilization, military socialization,
to Sri Lanka and Peru.
the polarization of social identities, the mili-
I analyze the effects of these processes
tarization of local authority, the transforma-
as transformations in social networks. These
tion of gender roles, and the fragmentation of
processes reconfigure social networks in a va-
the local political economy. These are pro-
riety of ways, creating new networks, dissolv-
cesses that sometimes have enduring lega-
ing some, and changing the structure of oth-
cies. For example, wartime polarization may
ers, as when the local clients of a patron are
lead to electoral polarization, segregation, and
mobilized into an armed network with a new
a distrustful political culture in the postwar
central figure. A social network consists of
period.
persons (network nodes) linked by different
Civil wars differ in the extent to which
kinds of relationships (edges). For example,
these processes are at work. Just as forms of
wartime polarization may reshape friendship
violence vary across and within civil wars, so
networks in a village, fracturing the network
too do these processes. To be sure, some of the
into two distinct networks with no edge be-
social processes I discuss are ongoing in peace-
tween them.
time as well, but war may radically change
I first describe the civil wars in these coun-
the pace of existing processes, redirect them,
tries, particularly the differences in the strate-
or alter their consequences, with perhaps ir-
gies of the armed actors evident in their dis-
reversible effects. In focusing on social pro-
tinct patterns of violence. I then describe the
cesses other than violence, some of which pre-
six social processes in turn, contrasting their
date the conflict, this article extends the work
apparent incidence in the four conflicts and
of anthropologist Stephen Lubkemann (2007,
making some observations about other con-
2008), who argues that in their emphasis on
flicts. In the conclusion, I briefly discuss their
wartime violence, scholars have neglected the
varied consequences for the postwar period.
540 Wood
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
CIVIL WARS IN EL SALVADOR, In El Salvador’s civil war, leftist insur-

PERU, SRI LANKA, AND gents influenced by Marxist/Leninist ideol-
SIERRA LEONE ogy and liberation theology rebelled against
FMLN: Frente
Wartime social processes are strongly shaped an authoritarian state whose military rulers Farabundo Martı́
by the strategies of the armed actors, partic- colluded with economic elites to maintain para Liberación
ularly the patterns of violence they wield, in- a highly unequal society based on a labor- Nacional, insurgent
repressive model of agriculture (Wood 2000). group in El
cluding whether violence against civilians is Salvador’s civil war
carried out disproportionately by one side, Violence during El Salvador’s civil war was
whether violence is generally indiscriminate extremely asymmetric: State agents were re-
or selective (individuals are targeted for their sponsible for 85% of deaths whereas the insur-
individual behavior), the intensity of violence, gent group, the Frente Farabundo Martı́ para
and the repertoire of violence deployed by Liberación Nacional (FMLN), was respon-
the parties to the war. By repertoire of vio- sible for 5% (the rest were unattributable;
lence, I mean the violent subset of what Tilly Truth Commission for El Salvador 1993). Vi-
(1978, 2003, 2008) calls the repertoire of con- olence against civilians by state agents was
tention, namely, that set of violent practices widespread, particularly early in the war:
that an armed group routinely engages in as More than 50,000 civilians—in a country of
it makes claims on other political or social five million people—were killed during the
actors. A particular group may include in its war (Seligson & McElhinny 1996).1
repertoire any or all of the following: kidnap- Violence was often indiscriminate; entire
ping, assassinations, massacres, torture, sex- families and villages were targeted in response
ual violence, forced displacement, and so on. to proinsurgent activities by a few mem-
Although Kalyvas (2006), Weinstein (2006), bers. Sexual violence, though not nearly as
and other scholars have analyzed the variation widespread as in some other conflicts, was
in lethal violence, the variation in other forms also committed disproportionately by state
of violence remains underanalyzed [but see agents; indeed, the Truth Commission for El
Wood (2006, 2007) on sexual violence, Steele Salvador lists no cases perpetrated by the
(2007) on displacement, and Hoover (2007) FMLN among the 150 cases in the unpub-
for a theory of armed group organization and lished annexes to its report (Wood 2006). The
repertoires of violence]. overall pattern of violence through the war
In particular, how distinct repertoires of vi- was one of restraint on the part of the FMLN
olence shape other social processes is not well and increasingly selective violence on the part
understood. The social effects of a particu- of state agents (with the exception of the state’s
lar form of violence depend on the context; in response to the FMLN’s 1989 offensive in San
particular, its meaning to social actors depends Salvador). The pattern of relative restraint
on the cultural setting (Ellis 1995, 1999). The in violence by the insurgents was remark-
same act of violence, e.g., the rape of a young able given the group’s complicated command
woman by a neighbor who is a member of a structure (the FMLN was a coalition of five
local militia, may in one context be under- distinct organizations).
stood as part of the ethnic cleansing of the
neighborhood and in another as a private act
1
unrelated to the war aims of the parties. The The gold standard of civil war mortality estimation,
namely multiple systems estimation (MSE), has not yet
pattern of violence varies sharply across our been done for the Salvadoran civil war, so the figure could
four cases in intensity, repertoire, the mix of be significantly different. MSE more than doubled the es-
selective and indiscriminate violence, and the timated number of dead and disappeared in the case of
Peru, whereas the same technique halved the number in
degree of symmetry in the wielding of vio- East Timor (Ball et al. 2003, Silva & Ball 2006, Lynch &
lence by the armed parties to the war. Hoover 2007).
www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 541

ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
In sharp contrast, lethal violence in Peru’s The LTTE commits significant violence
civil war was much more symmetric. The against civilians in a complex pattern. Se-
insurgent group Sendero Luminoso was re- lective assassinations of national and local
LTTE: Liberation
Tigers of Tamil sponsible for 46% of reported fatalities, and leaders, particularly rival Tamil figures, of-
Eelam, secessionist state agents for 30% (Ball, Asher, Sulmont ten kill significant numbers of civilian by-
group in Sri Lanka’s & Manrique 2003, p. 2). Violence was con- standers; in addition, Sinhalese villagers are
civil war centrated in the indigenous highlands of the targets of occasional indiscriminate violence
RUF: Revolutionary Andes (three quarters of the victims of lethal (often in reprisal for killing of Tamils in the
United Forces, violence spoke Quechua as their primary lan- area), as are Sri Lankan civilians generally.
insurgent group in
guage), the Amazonian lowlands, and Lima. State forces and their paramilitary allies en-
Sierra Leone’s civil
war Responsibility for the cases of sexual violence gage in a wide repertoire of violence, includ-
reported to the Truth and Reconciliation ing forced displacement, occasional massacres
Commission was asymmetric, with Sendero of Tamil civilians, disappearances, long-term

Luminoso responsible for 11% of the re- detention, and sexual violence. Sexual vio-
ported cases of rape and state agents for lence by the state occurs in two patterns: op-
83% (CVR 2003, Vol. 6, Ch. 1, pp. 274– portunistic rape of Tamil women and girls at
79). The insurgents became increasingly abu- checkpoints, and a recurring, apparently sys-
sive of civilians as the war progressed, par- tematic pattern of sexual torture of both polit-
ticularly after they were pushed out of their ical and criminal prisoners. In sharp contrast,
initial strongholds (which occurred in many the LTTE has not engaged in sexual violence
highland areas by 1984 or 1985). Through- (except as part of the torture of Tamils sup-
out the 1980s, Sendero carried out an in- porting rival groups), even during the ethnic
creasing number of massacres, while state cleansing of Muslims from northern Sri Lanka
forces became much more selective in their in 1990 (Wood 2009).
violence (Degregori 1999, p. 79). Sendero The civil war in Sierra Leone was charac-
units forced entire communities to move terized by extremely high levels and unusu-
to base camps to work on behalf of the ally wide repertoires of violence, the forced
insurgency; community members were not recruitment of combatants (including the re-
allowed to leave. In some camps, insurgent cruitment of many children by the insur-
leaders forced girls and young women into gents), and what the Truth and Reconciliation
sexual relationships (CVR 2003, Vol. 6, Ch. 1, Commission (TRC) of Sierra Leone termed
pp. 287–92). “factional fluidity,” the frequent shifting of al-
Sri Lanka’s civil war of ethnic secession liances and sides by units and groups (TRC
pits a secessionist Tamil group, the Liberation 2004, especially Vol. 3A, Ch. 4, pp. 550–52).
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE), against Violence by the insurgent group, the Revo-
a state dominated by two Sinhalese parties lutionary United Forces (RUF), was, unusu-
that since independence have competed for ally, largely indiscriminate. The RUF’s wide
votes in a classic pattern of ethnic outbid- repertoire of violence included gang rape, am-
ding. Each party has used the other’s efforts at putations, mutilations, massacres, forced re-
ethnic compromise to rally voters against the cruitment, forced displacement, and abduc-
other. Violence in Sri Lanka’s war appears to tion for slave labor, including sexual slavery
be roughly symmetric, but I know of no cred- (TRC 2004, Vol. 2, Ch. 2). The RUF was
ible estimate of civilian deaths disaggregated also highly unusual in the proportion of com-
by perpetrating group.2 batants who were forcibly recruited: 87%,
2
See the various issues of Sri Lanka: State of Human Rights,
an annual report by the Law and Society Trust, the various International, and the many publications by the University
reports on Sri Lanka by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Teachers for Human Rights ( Jaffna).
542 Wood
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
according to Humphreys & Weinstein (2006). many civil wars. For example, civilian insur-
Much of the violence seemed to have little gent supporters carried out land invasions on
purpose other than terrorizing the popula- a large scale in El Salvador (Wood 2003).
tion (TRC 2004, Vol. 2, Ch. 2, p. 34). State Approximately half of civil wars since
agents engaged in a wide repertoire of vio- World War II were fought as irregular wars, in
lence but were responsible for less of the vio- which nonstate combatants mingle with civil-
lence against civilians than the RUF. ians and rarely mass in significant numbers for
The strategies of armed actors and their set battles (Balcells & Kalyvas 2007). There
distinct patterns of violence shape other so- are some exceptions to this general pattern
cial processes to varying degrees, accelerating among our cases: Insurgents in El Salvador
some ongoing processes and setting in motion fought conventional battles until 1983, and
others. I address each in turn. some of the most pitched battles in Sri Lanka’s
civil war have been fought along conventional

lines, as in the struggle for control of Elephant
POLITICAL MOBILIZATION Pass. Warfare has been predominantly irregu-
Political mobilization often precedes civil war lar in all four cases, with the possible exception
as contestation deepens over claims made by of Sri Lanka. The pursuit of irregular war re-
nonstate actors (or dissident state actors) to relies on the ongoing support of at least some
sources, power, and voice. In both El Salvador civilians, unless extraordinary resource avail-
and Sri Lanka, extensive political mobilization ability renders the combatants effectively self-
occurred before civil war began, as nonviolent sufficient. The frequent contact with civilians
social groups attempted to persuade state ac- in most cases of irregular warfare implies that
tors to address their grievances. In the wake of everyday social processes may be reshaped by
state violence in El Salvador in the late 1970s conflict processes. However, many of the so-
and widespread ethnic violence in Sri Lanka cial processes analyzed here occur in broadly
in 1983, political mobilization was supplanted similar form during conventional civil wars,
by armed conflict. In El Salvador, intense and despite the significant difference in specific
indiscriminate state violence led to a rapid patterns. For example, civilians in the largely
growth in insurgent ranks from 1979 to 1981, conventional Spanish Civil War were mobi-
as many formerly nonviolent activists, disillu- lized in rear-guard areas to contribute food
sioned with conventional political forms, re- and to work as volunteers in direct support of
acted with moral outrage (Wood 2003). Even armed groups (L. Balcells Ventura, personal
where overt social mobilization is not evident, communication).
covert political mobilization almost always oc- In irregular wars, civilians provide “cover”
curs as nonstate actors attempt to expand their for nonstate combatants as well as intelli-
numbers, territory, and resources in anticipa- gence, supplies, transportation, and fresh re-
tion of the struggle to come, armed or not. In cruits. Although the last three can be coerced
Peru, Sendero Luminoso organized covertly, relatively effectively, as evident in the pat-
and its goals and actors showed little continu- tern of forced recruitment in Sierra Leone,
ity with earlier forms of political mobilization. the coercing of high-quality intelligence is
In Sierra Leone, the RUF also recruited initial much more problematic (Wood 2003). Co-
members covertly with little effort at building ercion, like torture, gives rise to perverse in-
civilian support networks; indeed, much of the centives to provide false information in order
initial recruitment and training occurred in to satisfy the coercers, particularly if the civil-
Liberia and Libya (TRC 2004, Vol. 2, Ch. 1, ian does not in fact know the required data.
p. 9; Vol. 3A, Ch. 3). Less analyzed than pre- State agents and actors allied with the state
war social mobilization is the ongoing col- also attempt to mobilize political backing, or
lective action by civilians that occurs during at least to interrupt mobilization on behalf of

ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
nonstate actors. One common consequence Francisco 1990, Garcı́a 1996, Romero 2003).
of this pattern of warfare is increasing po- In Sierra Leone, the traditional kamajor so-
litical polarization in areas of conflict or an- cieties were mobilized by local elites against
ticipated conflict as civilians feel themselves the insurgents in the form of Civil Defense
caught “between two fires” (Stoll 1993). Forces, which carried out widespread violence
The form of civilian mobilization varies in the southern part of the country against
significantly across conflicts, across actors those perceived as supporting the RUF (TRC
within conflicts, and over time. The FMLN 2004, Vol. 2, Ch. 2). In El Salvador, land-
relied on voluntary provision of intelligence; owning elites directed informal groups of
it built up ongoing collaborative networks of clients to suppress protests calling for land
covert civilian support that produced intel- reform with increasing violence through the
ligence the government could not match in 1970s, derailing a land reform initiative in
quality, despite various efforts to build gov- 1976 (Brockett 1990, pp. 147–48). Militias of-
ernment support through land reform and ten originate in such networks but may rapidly
resettlement programs (Wood 2003). Mobi- escape the control of their founders, as was
lization in El Salvador also varied over time. true of Colombia’s paramilitary groups.
Overt political mobilization re-emerged in State actors may also bolster their forces
the mid 1980s thanks to two sets of actors by drawing on clientelist networks of local
with varied covert ties to the insurgents: Rural allies or organizations of retired soldiers to
residents carried out extensive land occupa- found civilian militias or defense forces. In
tions, and unions mounted massive demon- El Salvador, well before the outbreak of civil
strations and marches. In Peru, Sendero war, the state greatly extended its paramili-
Luminoso initially relied on persuasion to re- tary networks. Many of the peasants in these
cruit members, but the group became increas- networks were clients of powerful patrons or
ingly coercive. Cadre acted with increasing former soldiers, and supplied intelligence on
violence in communities in the Andean high- rural troublemakers in exchange for loans, ac-
lands, forcing communities to attend meet- cess to health services, immunity from any
ings and publicly killing community leaders consequences of their paramilitary activities,
and suspected informers (Starn 1995, CVR and agricultural inputs such as land and fertil-
2003). Although the Sri Lankan insurgents izer (Stanley 1996). In Peru, the state armed
also attracted significant numbers of volun- groups of residents—the rondas campesinas
teers in the aftermath of the 1983 ethnic vi- who organized local resistance to Sendero Lu-
olence against Tamils, they soon developed minoso, a form of civil defense that proved
highly coercive relations with civilians, assas- very effective against the insurgents (Starn
sinating rival Tamil elites as well as local peo- 1995, Degregori 1999, Del Pino 2005). In
ple who favored rival groups (Tambiah 1986, Rwanda, local elites drew on kin and social
Somasundaram 1998, Narayan Swamy 2004). networks to recruit participants in the geno-
Local elites generally mobilize existing cidal killing of neighbors (Fujii 2009).
social networks, particularly kin and clien- Both the state and insurgent groups may
telist ties, to counter actors encroaching on draw combatants from these networks of civil-
their interests—not only insurgent organi- ian supporters through a variety of mecha-
zations but also rival elites seeking advan- nisms. Armed organizations often draw from
tage in the disorganized context of war. Ini- particular groups, e.g., a specific ethnic group,
tial mobilization often includes not only the not only because incoming recruits will be
arming of these networks but also attacks much more likely to endorse a particu-
on civilian groups perceived to be support- lar agenda of secession or redistribution,
ive of insurgent organizations, as in the case but also because they are likely to bring
of the paramilitary groups in Colombia (Leal with them norms and beliefs concerning the
544 Wood
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
appropriateness of violence against other tary organizations working with the state (in-
groups. Of course these norms and beliefs can cluding the Karuna faction, a splinter group
be radically altered by socialization into the of the LTTE in eastern Sri Lanka). In Peru,
armed group, both through formal training the arming of the rondas campesinas led to new
and through informal small-group dynam- ties between state agents and local indige-
ics such as hazing (see below). The Salvado- nous residents in many highland communities
ran insurgents relied on persuasion, as did despite previous state violence (Starn 1995,
the Peruvian insurgents initially. Contribut- pp. 562–63). State actors may also build militia
ing to the recruiting of youth to both the Pe- forces by militarizing a social, political, or eth-
ruvian and Salvadoran insurgencies was the nic cleavage, as in the case of Sri Lanka, where
social mobility participation offered (Degre- state efforts to develop Muslim Home Guards
gori 1999, Wood 2003). (Sendero Luminoso sharply increased the tension between Tamil-
also recruited a significant number of univer- speaking Muslims and Hindus in eastern Sri
sity students through sexual seduction of new Lanka and led to the LTTE’s decision to ex-
members by more experienced cadre.) Later in pel Muslims from northern Sri Lanka in 1990
the war, Sendero Luminoso forcibly recruited [Hasbullah 2001, International Crisis Group
members, including children—a pattern also (ICG) 2007].
seen in Sri Lanka, where the LTTE requires Of course, not all civilians mobilize.
at least one member from each Tamil house- Where violence is intense or indiscriminate,
hold in areas they control. Insurgent organi- or comprises a broad repertoire, the social im-
zations do not always draw recruits from so- plications are likely to be severe for ordinary
cial networks, however. The RUF in Sierra residents. Victims of political violence, partic-
Leone forcibly recruited members without re- ularly sexual violence and torture, often suf-
gard for local social networks, resulting in a fer not only from physical injuries but from
heterogeneous force with weak internal so- shame, fear, ostracism, distrust (both of oth-
cial ties between members when recruited ers and by others), and the inability both to
(Humphreys & Weinstein 2006). The orga- remember what happened and also to forget
nization’s pool of recruits may also reflect its (Levi 1988, Pedersen 2002, Human Rights
resource base: Groups without economic re- Watch 2003, Denov 2006, Mookherjee 2006).
sources are more likely to attract recruits will- As a result, victims frequently retreat from
ing to make long-term commitments to ideo- social interaction, living isolated from even
logical goals, whereas those with income flows their family and neighborhood. Thus, many
from control of resources are more likely to at- traditional forms of mutual aid weakened or
tract opportunistic recruits (Weinstein 2006). disappeared in the Peruvian highlands dur-
In contrast, state militaries often attempt ing the years of the war; the overall effect
to draw or conscript recruits from a wide was to demobilize, not to mobilize. Yet, some
range of subcultures in order to build na- of those who suffer political violence against
tional unity (Weber 1976). For example, the themselves or family members mobilize rather
Guatemalan military forcibly recruited in- than retreat. They found civil society orga-
digenous soldiers as part of its program of nizations to advocate for the return of loved
national integration (Black 1984). In partic- ones (or at least to learn what happened and
ular, the state may recruit disaffected mem- to retrieve their bodies), or they join armed
bers of an ethnic community on whose organizations.
behalf an insurgent organization is seeking Thus the political mobilization of civil-
autonomy or secession, a practice called “eth- ian networks into support networks for
nic defection” (Kalyvas 2008). For example, armed groups reshapes social networks. In El
in Sri Lanka, rival Tamil militant groups de- Salvador and Peru, for example, networks of
feated by the LTTE have become paramili- insurgent supporters came to wield significant

ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
power in some areas, displacing networks that another are felt to be stronger than previ-
linked clients to landlords and local citizens to ous loyalties, such as those to family (Holmes
government authorities. In the case of Peru, in 1985, Dyer 2004). Once deployed, combat-
many of those areas, networks later emerged ants experience (to widely varying degrees) vi-
linking residents to the state through the ron- olence as perpetrators, as witnesses, and often
das campesinas. The dissolution of traditional as victims. Combatant memoirs consistently
networks is not always achieved by the emer- report the traumatizing effects of watching
gence of new networks, however. The pattern the death or injury of fellow combatants, as
of dissolution may be one of increased social well as the harrowing effects for many of using
isolation rather than new network ties, partic- violence themselves (e.g., O’Brien 1999, Beah
ularly where armed groups coerce support. As 2007). Among the psychological mechanisms
discussed below, political mobilization also in- possibly at work in these processes of social-
directly reshapes social networks through the ization to group membership and the wielding
mechanisms of polarization and militarization of violence are compliance, role adoption, in-
of local authority. ternalization of group norms, cognitive dis-
sonance reduction, habituation to violence,

diffusion of responsibility onto the group,
MILITARY SOCIALIZATION deindividuation, and dehumanization of the
When political mobilization takes the form of victimized group (see Straus 2007 and Lynch
mobilization in support of an armed group, 2007 for analyses of these mechanisms and
the result is a distinctively military form the evidence concerning their contribution to
of socialization that has consequences for mass killing). Some of these processes may
both combatants and civilians (Bourke 1999). also support prosocial psychological trans-
The consequences of military socialization formations, such as altruistic solidarity with
for combatants are not well documented, but nonkin, as in the emergence of a new insur-
they surely include the effects of recruit- gent political culture of solidarity in contested
ment and training processes as well as the areas of El Salvador (Wood 2003).
effects of witnessing and wielding violence The profound effects that these processes
(Sofsky 2003). Whether recruits of armed can jointly exert on combatants are illustrated
groups are volunteers or have been coerced, most sharply by the extreme violence de-
they have to be socialized in the use of vi- ployed by forcibly conscripted child insur-
olence for group, not private, purposes, if gents in Sierra Leone. Young recruits were
group leaders are to control the violence de- forced by their RUF commanders to ex-
ployed by their combatants, typically through ert lethal violence, sometimes against fam-
the building of strongly hierarchical orga- ily members; some were forced to commit
nizations (Huntington 1957, Siebold 2001). sexual violence, a few against family mem-
Training and socialization to the armed group bers (Human Rights Watch 2003, pp. 35–
take place both formally, through the immer- 42; TRC 2004, Vol. 2, Ch. 2, p. 17 and
sion experience of “boot camp” (surprisingly Vol. 3A, Ch. 4, pp. 486–530ff ). Violence suf-
similar across state militaries and insurgent fered, observed, and wielded was an inte-
armies alike), and informally, through initia- gral part of the process of socialization of
tion rituals and hazing. In state militaries, the RUF combatants (Maclure & Denov 2006,
powerful experiences of endless drilling, de- Denov & Gervais 2007; see Honwana 2005
humanization through abuse at the hands of on Angola and Mozambique). As a result of
the drill sergeant, and degradation followed the traumatic socialization that young recruits
by “rebirth” as group members through initi- received, many came to view their comman-
ation rituals typically meld individual recruits ders as father figures, and the armed orga-
into a cohesive unit in which loyalties to one nization as family (Maclure & Denov 2006).
546 Wood
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
Similarly, the socialization processes of or- States) due to fear of forced recruitment and
dinary life were displaced and transformed violence; changes in the demographic profile
among those fighting on the other side: The of rural households, particularly the shifting
traditional rite of passage to adulthood for of new kinds of responsibility and labor to fe-
male youth in many areas became the in- male members; and sometimes the presence
duction ritual for joining the Civil Defense of former combatants who return after their
Forces, as the traditional kamajor societies service. In El Salvador, for example, insurgent
were transformed into paramilitary militias cadre sometimes moved between combatant
(Hoffman 2003). and civilian roles; their presence in villages
The frequently observed widening of reinforced the civilian insurgent support net-
repertoires of violence over the course of the works (Wood 2003). Similarly, the presence
war likely reflects the ongoing effects of these of former soldiers in other villages reinforced
underlying mechanisms, particularly dehu- networks of state loyalists.

manization, diffusion of responsibility, habit- Recruits’ socialization into military life re-
uation, and deindividuation, all of which are shapes social networks in many ways. Rather
likely to undermine constraints on violence than transitioning to adult life through

(Hoover 2007). As noted above, Sendero Lu- traditional cultural rituals of maturation,
minoso was increasingly abusive toward civil- apprenticeships to particular occupations,
ians and coercive toward its own members as and participation in migrant labor networks,
the war continued. This may have reflected young recruits are socialized to adulthood
the weakening of communication with the through their integration into armed groups
leadership after the group was forced to aban- and the wielding of violence. In Uganda,
don initial strongholds as well as the group’s former child soldiers were significantly
evolving strategy, which increasingly alien- disadvantaged by their loss of schooling
ated former supporters. The apparent diver- and skill development, and a minority was
gence in repertoire across Sendero units is significantly traumatized as well (Blattman &
consistent with this suggestion; as central con- Annan 2007). An overarching pattern is the
trol weakened, units developed particular el- substitution of complex everyday ties, shaped
ements of their repertoire. A widening of the by multiple overlapping networks of family,
repertoire of violence—in particular, the ad- employment, and community, by ties with
dition of sexual violence—was also evident on members of the armed group.
the part of the African National Congress and
the Inkatha Freedom Party in their contest for
control of KwaZulu Natal in the final years of IDENTITY TRANSFORMATION
the conflict in South Africa (and in the years AND POLARIZATION
immediately following; see Bonnin 2004). Violence, political mobilization, and military
The effects of participation in and witnessing socialization usually have the joint effect of
of violence in the South Africa case appear to polarizing local identities, as is widely argued
have contributed to the undermining of tra- for the case of ethnic identities (Kaufmann
ditional norms restraining sexual violence. 1996; Fearon & Laitin 2000), but the pro-
Military socialization has consequences for cess is complex. Before conflict begins, it is
civilians as well as combatants. As we will see often the case that local cleavages are dis-
in more detail below, the recruiting of com- tinct from those emphasized in the rhetoric
batants has various effects on local civil soci- of the parties to the conflict. What appears
ety: an increased emphasis on particular polit- at the national level to be the key issue—for
ical identities; the flight of youths from their example, class relations, constitutions, or eth-
homes (and sometimes their country, as in nic secession—may not be salient at the local
the mass exodus of Salvadorans to the United level, which may be dominated by conflicts

ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
between families or clans or other so- olent activists in El Salvador joined the insur-
cial groupings concerning particular local gent organization. In Sri Lanka, ethnic vio-
grievances (Harding 1984, Degregori 1999, lence against “estate” Tamils (Tamils whose
Kalyvas 2003, Lubkemann 2008). Even where families immigrated from India beginning in
local cleavages are similar to national ones, the mid nineteenth century to work on the
local politics reflects the specific history of tea estates) led some to support the LTTE,
the locale and its actors. For example, in El which previously had drawn exclusively from
Salvador, the cleavage was fundamentally one so-called Sri Lankan Tamils (based largely
of class, as the poor, particularly the rural poor, in the north). In contrast to opportunistic
organized against the long-standing privi- or protection-seeking motives, outrage aligns
leges of rural elites. Yet, landless laborers did not just public but private loyalties with one
not always support the insurgents, and me- side of the national cleavage.
chanics and truck drivers numbered among More generally, civilians caught “between
insurgent supporters (Wood 2003). Civilian two fires” must choose—on inadequate infor-
supporters of the insurgency distinguished be- mation and in a context of high uncertainty—
tween “good” landlords and “bad” landlords which side to support, particularly when com-
based on the history of past relations. batants force residents to declare such choices.
As extralocal actors begin mobilizing res- The armed parties can attempt to influence
idents or carrying out violence against them, civilian choice with incentives as well as pun-
the local cleavage may increasingly align with ishment. Even in largely ethnic conflicts, loy-
the national one as a result of at least three alties do not necessarily map onto the ethnic
processes. The first occurs when local actors cleavage; states often attempt to build loyalist
choose sides opportunistically, perhaps as a militias and civilian support bases by offer-
means toward local advantage, as when one ing incentives (including protection) for eth-
local faction denounces to one national party nic defection, as we saw above in the trans-
another faction as collaborators with the other formation of rival Tamil militant groups into
party (Kalyvas 2003, 2006). A second pro- state paramilitary organizations.
cess is more straightforward: Civilians may However, such polarization does not al-
have to support one party in order to gain ways occur. In contested areas of El Salvador,
protection against another. This situation oc- beginning in the mid 1980s, it was possible
curs with particular intensity when violence to be neutral (Wood 2003). Residents had
by one party is indiscriminate; if one’s be- to give water and sometimes food to com-
havior provides no safety against indiscrim- batants of either side passing through the
inate violence, joining the other side may neighborhood, and both sides acted against
be the safest course (Mason & Krane 1989, residents if they were identified as actively
Goodwin 2001, Kalyvas & Kocher 2007). collaborating with the other side. But resi-
Violence may of course be counterproductive dents were not forced otherwise to choose
in other ways, as when it leads to seeking re- sides. In several areas of Usulután province,
venge through membership in the opponent for example, about one third of residents ac-
organization. Revenge is said to be a common tively supported the FMLN beyond this co-
motivation for Tamils to join the LTTE vol- erced minimum, providing high-quality intel-
untarily, and other Tamils join rival groups ligence as well as supplies. Two thirds did not
or state forces to avenge violence by the do so but were allowed nonetheless to remain
LTTE. in the area as long as they complied with the
A third, often neglected mechanism of coerced minimum. This unusual pattern was
alignment is moral outrage in response to vi- possible because the conflict in the later years
olence. As mentioned above, in the wake of of the war pitted an insurgency that was un-
extreme state violence, some hitherto nonvi- usually restrained in its use of violence against
548 Wood
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
a military that was dependent on US funding, group leads to increasing homogeneity of the
which (thanks to popular mobilization that community as those allied to the group remain
led to substantial congressional opposition to behind. An armed party may attempt to create
the war) the United States threatened to cut such homogeneity, forcing everyone but its al-
unless human rights violations by the state lies out of the area. Such political “cleansing”
were severely curtailed. occurs at the local level in many civil wars,
Even where polarization does occur, lo- not just in wars of ethnic secession or geno-
cal public loyalties may reverse polarity. In cide. Organizations may also be purged, as
the Andean highlands, as violence by Sendero when local communal bodies are taken over
cadre exceeded local norms, some villages by residents loyal to one party, forcing those
reversed allegiance and aligned themselves loyal to the other party to leave the area. In
with state forces. This pattern spread quickly eastern Sri Lanka, for example, an area where
as state violence became less repressive and before the war Tamil, Sinhalese, and Muslim
Sendero’s violence more indiscriminate in the families lived and worked together with little
late 1980s (Degregori 1999, Theidon 2000, acrimony, villages tended to become increas-
CVR 2003). ingly homogeneous over the course of the war,

One result of the general pattern of in- as neighbors fled the occurrence or prospect
creasing polarization of public loyalties—and, of violence against them and their coethnics
to varying degrees, of private identities as (ICG 2007). In some conflicts, urban neigh-
well—is the increasing segregation of com- borhoods also segregate along political lines,
munities. One reason is, of course, flight. The either because incoming individuals and fam-
amount of displacement of civilians in three of ilies settle preferentially in areas where res-
these conflicts is staggering. In El Salvador, idents share political loyalties or aversions,
by 1987 ∼10% of the population was inter- or because armed actors prohibit them from
nally displaced, at least 10% was in the United settling in particular neighborhoods (Steele
States, and another 5% was in Mexico and 2007).
other Central American countries (Gersony Even when residents of diverse loyalties
1986; Montes 1987, p. 34). In Sierra Leone, remain in the area, mobilization, violence,
at least 800,000 people (∼20% of the popu- and polarization often lead to increasing so-
lation) left their homes for elsewhere in the cial segregation. In El Salvador, residents of
country and ∼400,000 for neighboring coun- contested areas who did not support the in-
tries (Amowitz et al. 2002, p. 514; other esti- surgents founded and joined local evangeli-
mates are significantly higher, suggesting that cal churches, in large part because they per-
50% of the population was displaced). In Peru, ceived the Catholic Church as supporting the
500,000–1,000,000 people were displaced, the insurgents. This perception was due to the
great majority from indigenous communities role of liberation theology in the mobiliza-
in the highlands (IDMC 2007a). In Sri Lanka, tion of poor people before the war and the
the levels of displacement are much lower: extreme state violence against that movement
∼460,000 people (2%) are displaced, with an- and its advocates, including the assassination
other 125,000 registered as refugees in other of Archbishop Oscar Romero (Wood 2003).
countries (IDMC 2007b, UNHCR 2007). Of The polarization of political identities that
course, not all were displaced by the direct frequently occurs during civil war breaks apart
exercise of coercion or even in an immediate prewar networks, as former neighbors are
context of fear; some left because they judged shunned and coloyalists are favored. Even
their life projects were best realized elsewhere communities with high degrees of intermar-
(Lubkemann 2007, 2008). riage before the conflict can split along cleav-
If one side is perceived as dominant, the age lines, as occurred in Bosnia, Croatia, and
flight of those who feel threatened by that Rwanda. The newly distinct networks may

ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
also move through space as those with par- documented in many reports by the Univer-
ticular identities flee or segregate. sity Teachers for Human Rights ( Jaffna). In
Colombia, both the leftist insurgents and the
paramilitaries insist that municipal authori-
MILITARIZATION OF LOCAL ties follow certain rules and norms (Arjona
GOVERNANCE 2008; see also Leal Buitrago 2002). Elections
In most civil wars, local authority becomes or other processes of selection may be held
militarized in the wake of political mobiliza- in circumstances deemed illegitimate by some
tion, violence, and polarization. By militariza- residents, as favored candidates or parties
tion I mean the supplanting of local forms of may not participate. Alternatively, elections
governance with new forms that reflect the may be deferred for years, leaving in place
influence of armed actors. In some conflicts, nominal leaders seen as illegitimate given
local elites flee from contested areas. They their absence from the locale or their inade-
may be particularly targeted by armed actors, quate management of wartime challenges. In
and they are more likely to have the resources El Salvador, for example, wartime municipal
to travel and the means to resettle elsewhere, elections were often held not in the munici-
including urban properties and connections, pality but in another town or city, with can-
and sometimes even visas for foreign travel, as didates competing who no longer lived any-
in the exodus of Tamil professionals and their where near the municipality. Usually only a
families from Sri Lanka beginning in 1983 fraction of eligible voters participated, a frac-
(Human Rights Watch 2006). Their flight is tion that disproportionately represented those
an opportunity for others to fill their place— no longer residing in the municipality.
most likely actors bearing arms, given the Where armed actors displace civil author-
risk and uncertainty that led the old elites ities, a common result is a generational in-
to flee. Insurgents and their supporters may version of authority, by which I mean armed
build new local orders in a variety of patterns, youth supplanting traditional elders and lo-
depending on insurgent strategy, community cal authorities. This occurred in the Peru-
structure, and local political loyalties (Arjona vian highlands (Degregori 1999, p. 64), ar-
2007). The militarization of governance takes eas of Sierra Leone dominated by the RUF
place in at least some areas of nearly all civil (TRC 2004 Vol. 2, Ch. 2, pp. 34, 45), and
wars, as armed actors displace civil authori- Darfur (Flint & de Waal 2005). This inversion
ties or as hard-line military or paramilitary may mean that traditional social norms con-
forces displace “softer” authorities such as po- straining violence are no longer enforced. In
lice when conflict intensifies. Medellı́n, Colombia, young members of rival
Even when civilians continue to govern, armed groups at one point controlled differ-
their rule is often militarized. They may rely ent neighborhoods, severely restricting civil-
on their ties to coercive forces more than be- ian lives in some, as depicted in the documen-
fore, or the site of effective authority may be tary film La Sierra.
displaced to nearby military bases or camps. The inversion may also occur along class
In Peru, by the mid 1980s, military bases or ethnic lines, particularly where insurgent
ruled surrounding territory, often with ex- groups govern the area, if the insurgents
treme abuse of power including arbitrary de- draw chiefly from subordinate ethnic or class
tention, torture, and sexual violence of resi- groups. In areas controlled or contested by the
dents (CVR 2003). In Sri Lanka, the LTTE FMLN, for example, ordinary residents came
strictly controls local civilian administration; to exert unprecedented authority in the ab-
those thought to collaborate with the state sence of both economic elites and civil author-
or to support inadequately the LTTE are ities. Their authority was limited, to be sure,
punished, and are sometimes assassinated, as by the overarching authority of the FMLN,
550 Wood
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
and in contested areas by that of the mili- judicial agencies. They appear to place partic-
tary as well. Nonetheless, local residents made ular emphasis on education, insisting on cur-
decisions about who could reside in the area ricula that focus on Tamil history, grievances,
and who could not, what land would be occu- and aspirations. They also require participa-
pied (some surreptitiously, others formally), tion in military training: All schoolchildren
and whether to allow particular former resi- over the age of 14 are compelled to par-
dents, including landlords and the mayor, to ticipate in exercises including security roles
return (Wood 2003). In Peru, generational and mock battles (de Mel 2007). The group
conflict brought enormous violence to some carries out “social cleansing,” threatening or
areas of the highlands, as armed teenagers al- killing local rapists and thieves, and insti-
lied with Sendero Luminoso revolted against tutes sanctions for domestic violence (Gomez
their parents and other traditional authorities 2005). The LTTE collects taxes from civil ser-
(CVR 2003, Vol. 1, Ch. 2, pp. 95–96; Vol. 2, vants (12% of their government-paid salary)
Ch. 1, p. 451). Insurgent governance in many and professionals in areas it controls, and
areas also had ethnic and class connotations, in some other areas of the country as well,
as insurgent-allied residents who ruled some and also taxes members of the Tamil dias-
towns briefly in the early 1980s were gener- pora, maintaining elaborate records of con-
ally both more poor and more indigenous than tributions, incomes, and promises of deferred
those they supplanted. payments (Human Rights Watch 2006). In
Yet generational inversion does not always Peru, Sendero Luminoso initially carried out
occur. In southern Sierra Leone, traditional locally popular acts of social cleansing but
militias, the kamajors, became effective civil soon turned to political cleansing, often via
defense forces (TRC 2004, Vol. 2, Ch. 2, public accountability sessions, in which local
pp. 76–78). The groups initially relied on tra- communities voiced complaints about local
ditional indoctrination rituals under the lead- leaders—complaints often followed by their
ership of respected elders. However, those ties murder, despite calls for punishment instead
to tradition were increasingly disrupted by a (Degregori 1999).
particular elder who came to control many The example of civilians in El Salvador
militias, introducing distorted, violent rituals making local decisions—with the implicit
that other elders saw as a perversion of tra- backing of the FMLN—indicates that the
ditional practices (TRC 2004, Vol. 2, Ch. 2, degree of militarization of local authority
pp. 77–79). varies significantly. Indeed, there are impor-
Insurgent governance takes an unusual tant exceptions to this general pattern. In El
form in Sri Lanka. Beginning in 1987 and in- Salvador, the town of Tenancingo—twice de-
tensifying after 1990, the LTTE developed serted owing to conflict in the town itself,
an extensive civil administration in areas it including bombing by the Air Force—was re-
controls (Byman et al. 2001, Wayland 2004, settled as a zona inerme (unarmed zone) un-
Stokke 2006, Mampilly 2007). The insurgent der an agreement between the FMLN and the
administration draws on the state administra- military negotiated under the auspices of the
tion; the group cooperates with the govern- Archdiocese of San Salvador (Wood 2003).
ment civil service in providing health care and Although both sides soon returned to carrying
education. (The state cooperates with this ar- arms through town and conflict resumed very
rangement because to refuse would mean that nearby, the town did not suffer from a resump-
no services were provided by the state, thereby tion of severe conflict through the remaining
strengthening the LTTE’s argument that a years of the war. In Colombia, some commu-
separate Tamil state was necessary.) How- nities have declared themselves comunidades de
ever, the insurgents maintain exclusive con- paz in an effort to protect themselves from the
trol over security, including new policing and incursions of armed actors, with mixed results

ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
(Uribe de Hincapie 2004). Some indigenous generally unmarried girls and young women,
communities have succeeded in limiting the reflecting their lesser family responsibilities
incursion of armed actors, including by found- (what sociologists term biographical availabil-
ing their own armed group (Peñaranda 1999; ity), particularly those living in refugee camps,
A. Steele, personal communication). where social expectations of joining were high
The militarization of local authority of- (Viterna 2006).
ten displaces prewar governance networks, In Sri Lanka, women and girls comprise
replacing them with new ties between some separate units, train in their own bases, and
residents and the new local authority (or au- carry out missions separately as well as jointly
thorities, if dual authorities are present—a fre- with male units (Ann 1993, Balasingham 2001,
quent occurrence in El Salvador and Peru). Trawick 2007). Women also carry out suicide
The new governance network may be directed missions, including the assassination of Rajiv
by civilians but usually relies on armed actors Gandhi (Narayan Swamy 2004). The motiva-
for their coercive authority and sometimes tions of girls and women to join the LTTE
their legitimacy, as in El Salvador, where local appear broadly similar to those of their male
civilians worked closely with the FMLN. counterparts, including revenge for state vi-
olence and nationalism. The emergence of
feminist aspirations among some experienced
THE TRANSFORMATION cadre apparently reflects their wartime expe-
OF GENDER ROLES rience rather than their motivation for join-
War transforms gender roles through a va- ing (Alison 2003). The presence of female
riety of mechanisms. The most dramatic, of combatants does not appear, however, to dis-
course, is the carrying of arms by female insur- place male combatants’ notions of woman-
gents, who comprised ∼30% of combatants hood; male cadre appear to prefer traditional
in the Peruvian, Salvadoran, and Sri Lankan Tamil women and girls, not their fellow com-
insurgencies and ∼25% in the Sierra Leone batants, as wives. Although female cadre dress
insurgency, unusually high fractions among in guerrilla uniforms with trousers and fre-
armed groups (Mason 1992, p. 250; Barrig quently have short hair, the LTTE enforces
1993, cited in CVR 2003, Vol. 8, Ch. 2.1, traditional Tamil dress among noncombatant
p. 56; Bouta 2005, p. 7; Humphreys & girls and women (Trawick 2007).
Weinstein 2004, p. 14). Female insurgents Civilian gender roles may also change dra-
broke traditional social norms in these soci- matically during war. In El Salvador, Peru, and
eties. Some provided household, logistic, or Sri Lanka, women became the primary inter-
medical services, but some served as com- locutors with the state as they sought news of
batants; the mix varied across groups. Al- their detained or disappeared menfolk. Par-
though women were among the members ticularly in Peru, where indigenous women of
of high-level command councils in Peru, El the highlands were much less likely to speak
Salvador, and Sri Lanka, in Peru and El Spanish and had little prior contact with state
Salvador women generally served under male authorities, carrying out this necessary task
commanders (with more exceptions in Peru was fraught with risk and suffering (CVR
than El Salvador). In Peru, access to power 2003, Vol. 8, Ch 2.1, Theidon 2007). Sig-
appeared to depend largely on sexual relation- nificant numbers of women inquiring about
ship with powerful men (including Guzmán; male relatives were themselves detained, and
CVR 2003). In El Salvador, that was not the some suffered sexual violence while in deten-
case; rather, women high in the insurgent tion (CVR 2003). Some founded or joined
organization were either founding members human rights groups; for most that did
of the FMLN’s constituent organizations or so, this was an unprecedented role in civil
advanced through the ranks. Recruits were society (Cordero 1998). In Sri Lanka, some
552 Wood
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
Tamil widows do not comply with the tradi- in the contested areas of wartime El Salvador
tional social norms of widowhood, refusing (Wood 2003). The exception to this pattern
to retire into the private sphere and insisting of foodstuff production and the feminization
on wearing the putee, a traditional mark on of agricultural labor is the production of illicit
the forehead that is usually denied to widows crops such as opium or coca in areas of Peru,
(Rajasingham-Senanayake 2001, pp. 106–7). Colombia, Burma, and Afghanistan. Even in
Patriarchal networks are often radically re- those cases, production occurs predominantly
shaped during war because women and girls on smallholdings, whose small scale renders
take on unprecedented roles as combatants them less likely to be detected by state au-
and interlocutors with authority, and (as dis- thorities or rival groups.
cussed below) take on new forms of work. The In contrast to the general pattern of sup-
extent of the transformation of gendered net- pression of most markets, conflict processes
works varies greatly across areas and conflicts may fuel land markets. Landlords may be will-
but is nonetheless frequently evident in the ing to sell if productive use of their properties
high fraction of female-headed households is unlikely, if rent payments are low or nonex-
both in contested areas and in areas where istent, and if buyers are willing to pay an ac-
refugees and displaced persons congregate. In ceptable price. In El Salvador during the war,
El Salvador, female-headed households com- very few buyers were willing to purchase large
prised about one quarter of displaced house- properties (those not nationalized under the
holds in 1985 (USAID 1987). Many female- agrarian reform) at a price the owner would
headed households are deeply impoverished accept because the buyer would face the same
despite girls and women taking on new roles wartime risks as the current owner did. Some
as landless laborers and farmers. land-poor and landless residents received re-
mittances from family members who had fled
to the United States. Thus, the subdivision of
FRAGMENTATION OF THE a large property for local sale provided a larger
LOCAL POLITICAL ECONOMY return than sale of the entire property (Wood
With the displacement of local elites, the sup- 2000).
planting of traditional authorities, and the de- In El Salvador, land markets flourished
parture of household members to serve in in the later years of the war around small
armed groups, new patterns of production and cities and towns. There were two princi-
labor emerge. Particularly in highly contested pal reasons: first, the formal occupation of
rural areas, household members make difficult nearby properties by insurgent supporters,
choices in the wartime context of uncertainty coupled with landlord perceptions that la-
and risk (Collier 1999, Humphreys 2003). bor relations would be difficult at the war’s
One pattern in some conflicts is the “peas- end; and second, the ability of poor resi-
antization” of formerly commercial agricul- dents to buy, thanks to remittances from fam-
ture. In the absence of elite investment and ily members in the United States. Although
management, large properties are cultivated many properties were subdivided and sold for
in small plots planted by individual rural housing, others were sold for smallholdings.
households. Because foodstuffs are increas- Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the changes
ingly unavailable for purchase in markets, ei- wrought in the landscape around the town
ther because markets do not function or be- of San Jorge, a small town on the shoul-
cause cash income has declined, household der of a volcano in eastern El Salvador.
members typically plant food rather than mar- These maps (originally published in Wood
ket crops, either with the permission of an ab- 2003) were drawn for me at the war’s end
sent landlord (negotiated via some local agent by members of the Cooperativa Cande-
or in risky trips to urban areas), or illegally, as laria, Un Nuevo Amanecer (“a new dawn”).

ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
Before the war (Figure 1), the area con- ral households, a pattern evident in many of
sisted mainly of medium-sized coffee estates. the testimonies presented to the Comisión de
The town is shown at the lower edge of the Verdad y Reconciliación. Sendero Luminoso
map. Each field and grove are labeled with not only attempted to impose collective pro-
the name of the owner, and the crop is in- duction in some areas of the highlands but
dicated with symbols. Figure 2 is the coop- also attempted to forbid peasant participa-
erativists’ representation of the postwar land- tion in markets (Starn 1995, Degregori 1999,
scape. Militant campesinos founded the cooper- p. 66). The state, too, forcibly resettled some
ative during the war and claimed 322 hectares communities as a counterinsurgency measure
of the now-rundown coffee estates at the war’s (Starn 1995).
end, including a significant fraction of the cof- In El Salvador, the state carried out a land
fee groves north of town. Those properties reform in an effort to undermine the FMLN’s
are labeled “propiedad de la cooperatiba” [sic] appeal. Approximately a quarter of arable land
(“property of the cooperative”). The aban- was turned over to landless workers and small
doned coffee estates (shown at the top of tenants, including hundreds of large estates
Figure 2) were more forest than farm, as indi- where coffee, cotton, and beef had been pro-
cated by the serpent near the upper right cor- duced before the war. Although the initial
ner, the broken coffee branches near the upper plans called for the continuation of large-scale
left, and notations such as “propiedad destru- production under a cooperative model with
ida” (destroyed property) and “vosque destru- access to credit from the state, within five
ido” [sic] (destroyed forest). Corn was more years most properties were worked as small-
widely planted (not evident in the figure, but holdings by cooperative members, as corrup-
easily noted when I visited the cooperative). tion and inadequate management quickly led
In other settings, the large earnings of to high operational debts. A distinctive part of
narco-traffickers may fuel markets in large the reform is evident in Figure 2: Two prop-
properties. In Colombia, for example, illicit erties in San Jorge were distributed to resi-
crops are produced on smallholdings, but dents in the early 1980s under the “land-to-
earnings often go toward property acquisi- the-tiller” phase of the agrarian reform; one is
tion (Reyes 1997, Romero 2003). Insurgent- labeled “parcelas de FINATA,” (the acronym of
controlled economic activities may lead to the administering agency) and the other sim-
the emergence or strengthening of markets, ply “FINATA.”
as in the illicit production and transport of Counterinsurgency efforts may also take
coca in some areas of Peru (Weinstein 2006). the form of development projects other than
In northern Sri Lanka, smugglers regularly agrarian reform, including credit and techni-
cross the straits between the Indian coast and cal support for crops to replace illicit crops
LTTE-held areas, transporting arms, cadre, whose marketing may fund armed groups, in-
and supplies (Balasingham 2001, Narayan frastructure development, and the provision
Swamy 2004). of health services. The classic literature on
A transformation of agrarian land and so- counterinsurgency calls for such nonmilitary
cial relations may also be imposed by armed means to win over civilian populations (see,
actors. Insurgents may require the produc- e.g., Trinquier 1964 and Galula 1964). In ad-
tion of certain crops or particular labor pro- dition to the agrarian reform, the Salvadoran
cesses, as when the FMLN attempted to in- government repeatedly attempted to resettle
troduce some collective cultivation in areas displaced families in new villages at strate-
it controlled in northern El Salvador in the gic sites. These efforts were unsuccessful be-
early years of the war. In Peru, both the in- cause the families were often displaced again,
surgents and the military repeatedly confis- or their loyalties to the state proved less reli-
cated livestock, decimating the savings of ru- able than assumed (Wood 2003). Beneficiaries
554 Wood
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
of the agrarian reform did not necessarily ways in the civil wars in El Salvador, Peru,
become loyal to the state; insurgent com- Sierra Leone, and Sri Lanka. Political mo-
batants used to rest and regroup on several bilization, military socialization, the polariza-
land-reform estates in southern El Salvador. tion of social identities, the militarization of
In eastern Sri Lanka, the state favors the local authority, the transformation of gender
land claims of Sinhalese farmers, often rel- roles, and the fragmentation of local political
atively recent arrivals resettled in the area economies reshaped a wide range of local so-
through various state development programs. cial networks, destroying some, breaking oth-
This policy has led to increasing conflict with ers into subnetworks, and creating new ones.
Tamil families over land and ongoing dis- What, if any, enduring legacy do these
placement of Tamil families from their lands processes leave for the postwar period? The
and villages (Peebles 1990, ICG 2007). In con- recent emergence of debate in Spain about
trast, the Peruvian state initiated relatively whether and how the civil war should be
few development projects during that coun- memorialized, particularly the controversy
try’s civil war, and those displaced by the con- over the excavation of mass graves, suggests
flict were largely left to fend for themselves in that the legacy of mobilization, violence, po-
the peripheries of Lima and provincial cities larization, and the militarization of author-
(Kirk 2005). In Colombia, a renewal of con- ity may have lain dormant through the years
flict was triggered by the rapid expansion of of dictatorship and initial democratic rule.
palm oil production on land abandoned by Indeed, Balcells Ventura (2007) found that
civilians who left the area because of the war patterns of lethal violence during Spain’s civil
(IDMC 2007c). war were associated with voting patterns in
War fragments most rural markets, as elections in Catalonia four decades later.
commercial production stagnates, input and Any assessment of legacy should be very
output transportation networks cease to func- cautious about drawing firm conclusions. For
tion, and financial institutions withdraw example, the transformation of gender roles
services. Also fragmented, as a result, are the during war is often reversed once war draws to
social networks linking owners of large prop- a close. Social norms may reassert themselves,
erties to their workers and to providers of in- with women leaving or being pushed from
puts. Similarly, the social networks that under- their jobs as men return to civilian roles, as was
gird public and private service provision to the the case in both the United States and France
rural poor also wither. Residents of contested after World War II. Institutional actors, in-
areas thus increasingly turn to family produc- cluding those working toward reconciliation,
tion of foodstuffs and services. In the wartime may structure incentives or procedures such
climate of uncertainty, distrust, and polar- that women’s new roles are undermined, as
ization, traditional social networks of mu- when land transfer programs neglect to issue
tual aid may likewise weaken. In some cases, titles to women as well as men, and demobi-
new social networks with economic functions lization programs favor male combatants over
emerge, as in the case of the insurgent coop- females, whose role may not be recognized.
eratives in El Salvador, and the illicit networks Women may be displaced from leadership po-
of coca production and transport in Peru and sitions in political parties and civil society or-
of sea transport between the Indian coast and ganizations when male combatants, particu-
LTTE-held areas of northern Sri Lanka. larly officers, return to civil society.
Nonetheless, sometimes the social pro-
cesses of civil war leave enduring changes
CONCLUSION in their wake. In El Salvador, war left a
The wartime social processes discussed here legacy of leftist civil society organizations
occurred to varying degrees and in different and a new insurgent political culture based

ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
on substantive democratic and redistributive the conflict, a significant acceleration of the

claims in areas of strong FMLN influence prewar rate of urbanization. It appears that
(Wood 2003). Indeed, the transformation of war may also accelerate the transition to nu-
the FMLN into a political party marked an clear households from more extended forms as
unprecedented representation of the politi- family networks disperse during the war. War
cal left. The process was conflictual, given often leaves an increased number of female-
the group’s complex internal structure and headed households, not only because of the
ideological diversity. Although the party has higher death rate of males but also because
yet to win the presidency, it performs well of the dispersion of families and the disrup-
in municipal and legislative elections, repeat- tion of stable labor migration patterns. Labor
edly serving as the lead opposition party in relations may be transformed, even if there is
parliament. some rollback to prewar forms. It is not always
In other cases, in sharp contrast, the legacy the case that women and girls retire to their
of wartime polarization may inhibit the rein- prewar roles; they may remain to some degree
tegration of combatants and their supposed in new occupations, particularly in the ab-
supporters. In Peru, there is significant oppo- sence of male partners. And women may con-
sition to any recognition of the suffering of tinue in leadership roles in new civil society
family members of Sendero combatants, seen organizations such as human rights groups,
by many as terrorists whose reintegration is particularly in settings where combatants of
neither morally desirable nor politically palat- neither side are welcomed into civil society,
able. A generation of local leaders was dec- as in Peru.
imated by the war; community leaders were This article raises many more questions
assassinated for their supposed political loy- than it answers. Further research on the social
alties, particularly by Sendero cadre, both in processes of civil war would be a valuable con-
the highlands and Lima neighborhoods (Burt tribution. Under what conditions does each
1998, CVR 2003). In Sri Lanka, the social pro- process occur with particular force? Under
cesses of war have largely eliminated any ar- what conditions do these processes have en-
ticulation of Tamil autonomy except for that during, important consequences? To what ex-
embraced by the LTTE. Nascent class poli- tent do answers depend on who wins the war?
tics remains eclipsed by ethnic politics, as the To what extent do they depend on the inten-
two Sinhalese political parties repeatedly play sity of conflict, or its duration? Is it possible
the “Tamil threat” card to mobilize followers, to distinguish the legacies of distinct processes
rather than appeals along other lines. of war? The challenge will be to develop re-
A common pattern of enduring change search designs that allow the untangling of
is demographic. War changes the population the consequences of distinct processes, a chal-
structure of countries, often in profound ways. lenge that may be best addressed by research
In El Salvador, for example, the rural to urban strategies that take advantage of subnational
ratio of 60:40 was reversed over the course of variation.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
The author is not aware of any biases that might be perceived as affecting the objectivity of
this review.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank Ana Marı́a Arjona, Laia Balcells Ventura, Regina Bateson, Samuel Bowles, Francisco
Gutiérrez Sanı́n, Amelia Hoover, Sashini Jayawardane, Meghan Lynch, and Abbey Steele for
comments. I thank Emma Einhorn and Sashini Jayawardane for research assistance, and the
556 Wood
ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the United States Institute of Peace, Yale University’s
MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, and the Santa Fe Institute for funding
of research on related projects. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
United States Institute of Peace.
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Figure 1
San Jorge, El Salvador, before the war. Reprinted from Wood (2003), used with permission of Cambridge University Press. A more detailed version can be seen at
http://www.cambridge.org/us/features/wood/.
by Syddansk University on 04/06/14. For personal use only. Wood.qxd 02/24/2008 02:16 PM Page C-3
www.annualreviews.org
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Figure 2
San Jorge at the war’s end. Reprinted from Wood (2003), used with permission of Cambridge University Press. A more detailed version can be seen at http://
www.cambridge.org/us/features/wood/.
AR344-FM ARI 8 April 2008 18:44
Annual Review of
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Contents Volume 11, 2008
State Failure
Robert H. Bates p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p1
The Ups and Downs of Bureaucratic Organization

Johan P. Olsen p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 13
The Relationships Between Mass Media, Public Opinion, and Foreign

Policy: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis
Matthew A. Baum and Philip B.K. Potter p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 39
What the Ancient Greeks Can Tell Us About Democracy
Josiah Ober p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p 67
The Judicialization of Mega-Politics and the Rise of Political Courts
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Debating the Role of Institutions in Political and Economic
Development: Theory, History, and Findings
Stanley L. Engerman and Kenneth L. Sokoloff p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p119
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Peter Gourevitch p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p137
Does Electoral System Reform Work? Electoral System Lessons from
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Ethan Scheiner p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p161
The New Empirical Biopolitics
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The Rule of Law and Economic Development
Stephan Haggard, Andrew MacIntyre, and Lydia Tiede p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p205
Hiding in Plain Sight: American Politics and the Carceral State
Marie Gottschalk p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p235
Private Global Business Regulation
David Vogel p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p261
Pitfalls and Prospects in the Peacekeeping Literature
Virginia Page Fortna and Lise Morjé Howard p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p283
v
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Discursive Institutionalism: The Explanatory Power of Ideas

and Discourse
Vivien A. Schmidt p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p303
The Mobilization of Opposition to Economic Liberalization
Kenneth M. Roberts p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p327
Coalitions
Macartan Humphreys p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p351
The Concept of Representation in Contemporary Democratic Theory
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What Have We Learned About Generalized Trust, If Anything?
Peter Nannestad p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p413

Convenience Voting
Paul Gronke, Eva Galanes-Rosenbaum, Peter A. Miller, and Daniel Toffey p p p p p p p p p437
Race, Immigration, and the Identity-to-Politics Link
Taeku Lee p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p457
Work and Power: The Connection Between Female Labor Force
Participation and Female Political Representation
Torben Iversen and Frances Rosenbluth p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p479
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Social Networks
Elisabeth Jean Wood p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p539
Political Polarization in the American Public
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ANRV344-PL11-24 ARI 2 May 2008 20:21

The Social Processes of

Elisabeth Jean Wood

Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci. 2008. 11:539–61 Key Words

INTRODUCTION agency of ordinary people struggling to real-

social processes. I trace the variation in these

these processes, namely, Peru, El Salvador,

CIVIL WARS IN EL SALVADOR, In El Salvador’s civil war, leftist insur-

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 541

Commission was asymmetric, with Sendero of Tamil civilians, disappearances, long-term

civil war have been fought along conventional

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 543

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 545

sonance reduction, habituation to violence,

underlying mechanisms, particularly dehu- networks of state loyalists.

likely to undermine constraints on violence than transitioning to adult life through

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 547

CVR 2003). ingly homogeneous over the course of the war,

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 549

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 551

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 553

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 555

on substantive democratic and redistributive the conﬂict, a signiﬁcant acceleration of the

in Sierra Leone. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 287:513–21

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 557

Denov M, Gervais C. 2007. Negotiating (in)security: agency, resistance, and resourcefulness

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 559

1990–1995. New York: United Nations

Accessed Feb. 2, 2008

www.annualreviews.org • Social Processes of Civil War 561

Contents Volume 11, 2008

The Ups and Downs of Bureaucratic Organization

The Relationships Between Mass Media, Public Opinion, and Foreign

Discursive Institutionalism: The Explanatory Power of Ideas

Peter Nannestad p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p413

Cumulative Index of Contributing Authors, Volumes 7–11 p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p589

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Editor: Stephen E. Fienberg, Carnegie Mellon University

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Editor: Stephen E. Fienberg, Carnegie Mellon University