Open AccessLord’s Resistance Army Culture Provides Opening to Prevent Attacks and Advance Humanitarian Efforts
Author(s) -
Emilee Matheson
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of advanced military studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2770-260X
pISSN - 2770-2596
DOI - 10.21140/mcuj.2022sistratcul011
Subject(s) - resistance (ecology) , resentment , hostility , appeal , political science , humanitarian crisis , narrative , criminology , political economy , development economics , sociology , law , psychology , social psychology , refugee , politics , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , economics , biology
A recent increase in defections from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)—a Central Africa-based religious militia—has resulted in a rise in violent, survival-motivated lootings of local villages and nongovernmental organization (NGO) outposts perpetrated by former LRA members who are deterred from rejoining their home communities by perceived resentment and hostility among local community members. These ongoing hostilities have compounded an existing humanitarian crisis in Central Africa and intensified regional instability. Cultural data show that if NGOs partnered with local leaders, reintegrated LRA defectors, and tailored their reintegration narratives to appeal to LRA cultural biases, they are more likely to preserve NGO resources through a sustainable decrease in attacks and an increase in successful reintegration efforts.