Interviews with Killers: Six Types of Combatants and Their Motivations for Joining Deadly Groups

Interviews conducted with leaders, combatants, witnesses, and victims in central Nigeria provide insight into the processes of volunteerism, recruitment, and indoctrination within armed groups. Identified are numerous avenues by which previously nonviolent citizens become willing perpetrators in deadly grass-roots conflict. Despite a commonly advertised motive for joining, narrative analyses reveal several diverse and underlying motivations. Six distinct combatant typologies are described: the Follower, the Pragmatist, the Criminal, the Soldier, the Basic Needs, and the Ideologue. The characteristics of each type, the timing of their entry into the conflict, and the implication for select intervention strategies are discussed.