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Brennan, Sean

Seán Brennan BA(Hons) MA University of Ulster

jbrennan07@qub.ac.uk

Thesis Working Title : The Role of Former Combatants and Ex-prisoner’s in Conflict Resolution: Defenders or Mender’s?

The aim of this research is to investigate the role former combatants and ex-prisoners play in grassroots processes of DDR. While much research and analysis focuses on the political leaders of ex-combatant organisations this investigation seeks to understand how former combatant leaders reintegrate at a grassroots level often in still raw and contested socio-sectarian or ethno-political interfaces. What does a former combatant do to reintegrate through a DDR process at a grassroots level? How do former combatants or ex-prisoner representatives engage in defending or mending relations with former enemies, or former comrades, at violent interfaces or contested spaces?

Comparing experiences of former Cypriot combatants with those in Ireland will identify the historical processes of DDR at a micro and meso level of organisational command. Research analysis will then establish shared and common experiences of demobilization and reintegration at a grassroots level in both Cyprus and Ireland. Examining Cypriot ex-combatant experiences from 1974-2008 will structure a comparative framework to contrast experiences of DDR in Ireland from 1998-2008.  Analysis on the impact and consequences of DDR at the grassroots level will contribute towards a wider systematic classification of the micro and meso processes of conflict transformation required to demobilize defenders post-ceasefire and reintegrating menders post conflict.