Mainstreaming the non-state in bottom-up state-building: linkages between rebel governance and post-conflict legitimacy |
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| Authors: | Sukanya Podder |
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| Affiliation: | Sukanya Podder (PhD Post War Recovery Studies, University of York, UK) is Assistant Professor at the Centre for International Security and Resilience, Cranfield University (Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Shrivenham). She is co-editor of Child Soldiers: From Recruitment to Reintegration (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). Recent work has been published in Civil Wars, International Peacekeeping, Contemporary Security Policy, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding and Politics, Religion and Ideology. |
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| Abstract: | ![]()
This article explores the potential for mainstreaming wartime rebel governance structures into post-conflict state-building efforts. Through a study of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement's (SPLA/M) efforts at state-building in South Sudan (1994–2011), it examines the oft-neglected linkages between rebel governance and post-conflict legitimacy. Findings highlight three pitfalls of mainstreaming non-state roles without sufficient analysis of the sources of legitimacy underlying rebel governance frameworks. First, by drawing upon the functions and legitimacy of other non-state actors rather than the rebel group itself, an artificial image of state-building can be projected. Second, due to the fragmented and dispersed nature of legitimacy, the ‘bottom-up’ logic of state-building can prove dubious. Third, weak capacity in governance, and subcontracted sources of legitimacy, are likely to undermine the ability to develop independent structures and functions. Conclusions offer four case specific insights that can assist policy-makers in applying a more critical framework to the legitimacy of armed groups, before incorporating them into post-war governance arrangements. |
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