Reintegrating Rebels into Civilian Life: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Burundi

66 Pages Posted: 19 Aug 2011

See all articles by Michael J. Gilligan

Michael J. Gilligan

New York University - Department of Politics

Cyrus Samii

New York University (NYU) - Wilf Family Department of Politics

Eric N. Mvukiyehe

Columbia University

Date Written: May 2, 2011

Abstract

Considerable resources are devoted to ex-combatant reintegration programs in current peace processes, but evidence on their effectiveness remains thin. We use original survey data to study an ex-combatant reintegration program implemented after Burundi’s 1993-2004 civil war. Previous quantitative studies have found reintegration programs to be ineffective, but only ex-combatants who self-selected into programs were studied. We avoid such selection problems with a quasi-experimental design exploiting an exogenous bureaucratic failure. We find the program resulted in a 20 to 35 percentage point reduction in poverty incidence among ex- combatants and moderate improvement in livelihoods. But this economic boost does not seem to have caused political reintegration: while we find a modest increase in propensities to report civilian life as preferable to combatant life, we find no evidence that the program contributed to either more satisfaction with the peace process or a more positive disposition toward current government institutions.

Keywords: post-conflict reconstruction, civil war, Burundi, DDR, impact evaluation, quasi-experiment, matching, causal inference

Suggested Citation

Gilligan, Michael J. and Samii, Cyrus and Mvukiyehe, Eric N., Reintegrating Rebels into Civilian Life: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Burundi (May 2, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1911968 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1911968

Michael J. Gilligan (Contact Author)

New York University - Department of Politics ( email )

19 West 4th Street
New York, NY 10012
United States

Cyrus Samii

New York University (NYU) - Wilf Family Department of Politics ( email )

715 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
United States

Eric N. Mvukiyehe

Columbia University ( email )

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