JOURNAL OF THE UEL UNDERGRADUATE CONFERENCE

(Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2009). Among linity .
15-24 year-olds the HIV prevalence for women
(6.5%) is nearly four times greater than it is for men 2. Methodology
(1.7) (Population Reference Bureau, 2010), indicating
that a person’s vulnerability to HIV and access to pre- This paper employs a case study methodology to
ventative measures is closely associated with their analyse information gathered from a Kenyan primary
gender. school over eight weeks. The case-study school was
a private boarding school situated in the Rift Valley
Over half of adolescent girls are mothers (Elimu Yetu province. Around 600 pupils were enrolled, ranging
Coalition, 2005: 111) and 47 percent of births to ado- from three to 20 years of age. In addition to primary
lescents aged 15-19 in 2008 were from unintended research, literature on the sociology of education has
pregnancies (KNBS, 2009). This suggests a lack of been drawn on to structure the analysis and findings
decision-making power over reproductive rights from previous studies have been discussed to com-
among this group. Cultural practices, such as female pare to the primary research.
genital mutilation (FGM) and the early marriage of
girls to older men, further illustrate a lack of rights The primary research methods were: semi-struc-
(Elimu Yetu Coalition, 2005). tured group interviews with teachers and pupils aged
between 12 and 16, in groups according to sex; semi-
Although primary school enrolment is high, the gap structured key informant interviews, with teachers
between girls and boys has been widening over the and the school director; and participant observation,
last four years (UNDP, 2010), with boys more likely made in the staff room, and during lessons and staff
to participate. Moreover, attendance rates between meetings. Ethical clearance was granted by the Uni-
boys and girls tend to widen during adolescence versity of East Anglia Ethics Committee.
(Mensch & Lloyd, 1998). Schools often fail to pro-
vide a safe environment, particularly for girls; numer- Participants were selected according to age and
ous studies have drawn attention to the high level of gender, however the selection process was fairly
violence and abuse of girls in school, committed by unstructured in order to avoid placing any pressure
male pupils and teachers. This is evidence of formal on pupils to participate. Pupils between the ages of
schooling actively disempowering girls. 12 and 16 were spoken to in large groups about the
research. Pupils were then given around a week to
Research aims and objectives put forward their names if they wished to partici-
pate. Any pupil interested was given a short written
This study aims to address the following research piece of information (see Appendix 4). To ensure they
objectives: understood the information, I read it with them and
answered any questions they had. Due to this selec-
•  Examine the concepts of masculinity and femi- tion method, which seemed appropriate considering
ninity that form the gender identities promoted in limits on time and resources, cross-cutting factors
Kenyan schools. such as ethnic background were not analysed. A total
of ten group interviews were conducted with girls
•  Discuss how those identities are promoted and and seven with boys. As with the pupils, I discussed
the extent to which adolescent pupils can negoti- the research with the teachers during the first four
ate or resist them. weeks of my stay and collected names of those wish-
ing to participate. The teachers were also grouped
•  Evaluate which of the factors contributing to the according to sex.
cultivation of negative gender relations are the
most significant. A cyclical method of ‘coding’ (Bryman, 2004) was
used to analyse the interviews and observations.
Following a brief outline of the conceptual tools to Through this process a number of themes emerged.
be used and findings from previous studies, the pri- This was followed by more focused coding, and
mary research will be analysed. This paper will argue grouping of core themes.
that Kenyan schools impose strict definitions of ‘mas-
culine’ and ‘feminine’ and cultivate unequal rela- 3. Conceptual framework
tions, which become normalised through: the gen-
dered organisational structures and informal rules; Theorists of social and cultural reproduction, such
non-reflective pedagogical practices; sexualisation of
female pupils; high levels of accepted violence; and
promotion of a dominant form of aggressive mascu-

51

as Bourdieu and Passeron (1977), view formal edu- behaviour. Paul Willis’ influential study of working
cation as a mechanism for imposing a dominant cul- class ‘lads’ (1977), and Ann-Marie Wolpe’s study of
tural scheme onto pupils. However, these schemes discipline and sexuality (1988), both set in British
are not imposed solely through the formal curricu- secondary schools, are good examples. Wolpe (1988)
lum; schools also transmit sets of knowledge and focuses attention on gendered interactions in school.
values through informal rules and practices, known She highlights the stereotypical views that teachers
as the ‘hidden curriculum’ (Giroux, 1983). Messages often hold of girls (as obedient, passive and studious)
about gender norms are transmitted through: the and boys (as troublesome and self-confident), and
way teachers treat male and female pupils, the dif- argues that these views fail to recognise differences
ferent disciplinary actions and behavioural norms within groups and the way that the pupils negotiate
imposed on them, the way male and female teachers the teachers’ gendered expectations.
interact, and the different roles of male and female
staff members (Stromquist et al., 1998). These insti- Social Relations Framework
tutional practices produce and normalise unequal
gender relations and regulate gender identities Naila Kabeer’s Social Relations Framework, which
and sexuality, thereby producing a ‘gender regime’ is grounded in structuralist thought, can be used to
(Dunne, 2007: 502). analyse the ways in which the rules and practices
of institutions determine the social positioning of
Bernstein’s concept of ‘codes’ describe the ‘classifica- particular groups; defining their level of access to
tion’ and ‘framing’ used in schools to reproduce class resources, rights and responsibilities. She explains
relations (1975). This concept has been adapted by that the concept of gender relations, as an element
Madeleine Arnot (2002) to look at gender relations. of broader social relations, allows for an analysis of
She explains that in schools with strong gender ‘clas- the social relationships and interactions between
sification’ there is a strict definition between mascu- men and women that constitute them as two une-
linity and femininity, realised in rules governing spa- qual social groups, rather than two unconnected cat-
tial organisation, uniform and classroom activities. egories (Kabeer, 1994).
Where the ‘framing’ is strong, teachers may hold
different expectations of boys and girls, use differ- Kabeer defines five aspects of social relations within
ent forms of punishment and use ‘sex-appropriate institutions: activities, people, resources, rules, and
criteria’ to assess pupils (Arnot, 2002: 34). In an power. The following descriptions are based on those
authoritarian environment where stringent defini- written by March, Smyth & Mukhopadhyay (1999:
tions of gender are imposed, students will potentially 106-108):
feel ‘unable to explore their thoughts and feelings’
(Carter, 2002: 32) and may therefore find it ‘difficult •  Activities: This category examines what insti-
to develop self-identity’ (ibid: 35). In contrast, where tutions do, and which groups carry out specific
classifications are weak, there is a greater level of tasks. It also includes who gets what for carrying
equality between the sexes and pupils have more out certain activities, and the hierarchy of activi-
‘freedom to negotiate the definitions of gender’ ties and rewards.
(Arnot, 2002: 34). Arnot also interprets Bernstein’s
concept of ‘re-contextualisation’ as ‘gender attribu- •  People: People may be included in, or excluded
tion’, which describes familial or community gender from, institutions, or certain levels within them.
values that are incorporated into the school context They are often positioned in a hierarchy, which
(2002). The concept of gender codes makes a useful may be gendered.
distinction between gender identities that are pro-
moted by the structure and curriculum of the school, •  Resources: Resources are used, produced and
and those presented to pupils by the behaviour and distributed by institutions, and can be material,
values of teachers. human, or intangible (social networks, informa-
tion). Resources may be distributed according to
The main criticism of reproduction theories is that categories such as gender or ethnicity.
they tend to neglect human agency. In contrast, many
ethnographic studies of gender and class dynamics •  Rules: Institutions are governed by rules which
in schools highlight the ways in which adolescent determine what is done, how it is done, by whom
pupils challenge particular notions of ‘appropriate’ it will be done, and who will benefit. They can be
official, written rules, or they can be unofficial,
expressed through norms, customs, values and
traditions.

52

•  Power: This category refers to the level of con- dominated classrooms. Studies have shown that
trol held by certain groups or individuals over the many schools in Kenya pay no heed to the recent law
distribution of resources and activities. Complex permitting girls to return to school after pregnancy,
power relations are present in institutions, based therefore excluding them on the basis of gender
on numerous indicators of social identity. Within discrimination (Elimu Yetu Coalition, 2005; Ajowi &
this category, an analysis can be done of the deci- Simatwa, 2010).
sion-making power within an institution, by whom
it is held, and who benefits from such power. Due to the lack of female teachers in African schools,
girls tend to lack role models and women whom they
The Social Relations Framework is based on an under- can go to for advice, which, it has been argued, con-
standing of ‘development’ in terms of human well- tributes to the high drop-out rate among schoolgirls
being, rather than just economic growth. It can be (Aikman et al., 2008). However, it is important not to
used to understand the structured relations of power assume that simply increasing the numbers of female
within institutions such as the state, the market, the teachers will result in gender norms being challenged.
community and the family, and how those institutions It has been argued that, because women are often
construct gender relations and, therefore, gender unaware of their own subordination, teacher training
inequality (Leach, 2003b). However, the framework needs to be from a feminist perspective (Stromquist
has been criticised for over-emphasising the impor- et al., 1998).
tance of an institution’s structure at the expense of
human agency (ibid.). Resources

4. Findings from previous studies The cost of schooling

Activities Despite the introduction of free primary education
in 2003 the hidden costs of schooling, such as school
The school curriculum represents the type of knowl- uniforms, books and exam fees, mean that formal
edge that is deemed valuable, and the way men education is still unaffordable for many (Elimu Yetu
and women are represented in textbooks and other Coalition, 2005). These hidden costs are a particular
materials can influence understandings of gender problem for girls, who face additional costs dues to
(Arnot, 2002). Studies have found that many African the requirement of items such as sanitary towels.
curriculum materials present negative gender ste- This contributes to the ‘sugar-daddy phenomenon’
reotypes, portraying women as ‘passive, dependent, which is becoming increasingly common among girls
weak, fragile, and even mindless, engaged in non- in East Africa, whereby sex is exchanged for money
remunerative, low prestige occupations’ (Wamahiu, from men, who are often much older (Silberschmidt
1996). Teaching in Sub-Saharan African schools tends & Rasch, 2001).
to involve rote-learning, testing, and very little input
from the pupils, which restricts pupils’ opportunities Rules
to question concepts of gender that are presented to
them (Wamahiu 1996, Stromquist et al., 1998). Rules that discriminate on the basis of gender tend
to be unofficial, but are nevertheless very much a
Activities may be divided according to gender, among part of the school’s institutional framework. This is
both school staff and pupils. Dunne (2007) found often apparent in discipline patterns. Mirembe &
that the allocation of duties was strongly gendered Davies (2001) find that within Kenyan schools cer-
in schools across Botswana and Ghana. By allocating tain punishments are often deemed appropriate for
tasks such as sweeping or mopping to female pupils, girls and others for boys. Wolpe (1988) argues that
and tasks such as tree-cutting or more supervisory this imposes strict gender identities onto pupils. Ste-
duties, to boys, traditional gendered labour divisions reotypical views of boys’ and girls’ behaviour held
become normalised (Dunne, 2007). by teachers often mean that if a boy is being loud
and active he is just behaving ‘like a boy’, but if a girl
People behaves in the same way she is confronting gender
expectations and is likely to be punished for not
With the drop-out rate during adolescence higher behaving appropriately (Wolpe, 1988).
for girls, male pupils, particularly at secondary level,
often outnumber female pupils thus creating male- Studies by authors such as Fiona Leach and Fatuma

53

Chege have brought to light the terribly high level of 5. Analysis
physical and sexual violence that takes place within
Sub-Saharan African schools, which has gained 5.1 Activities
increasing attention in the context of the AIDS pan-
demic and the threat that it poses to adolescent Gendered division of duties
health (Aikman et al., 2008). These studies have
shown this problem to be particularly acute in Kenya Girls carried out the majority of cleaning duties that
(Ruto & Chege, 2006; Leach, 2003a) were assigned to the pupils. During parents’ days and
other events, female pupils served food and drink to
Another way that unequal gender relations are legiti- the staff and guests, suggesting to pupils that this
mised through school rules in Kenya is through the was a ‘female’ task. This gendered division of activi-
use of corporal punishment. Previous studies have ties transmits messages to pupils that perpetuate
shown this to be common in Kenyan schools despite existing gender divisions of labour, and is an example
it being outlawed in 2001 (Elimu Yetu Coalition, 2005; of the gender attribution of values held by the wider
Ruto & Chege, 2006). Harber (2004) argues that vio- community.
lence in school legitimises violence of the strong
against the weak, which clearly has gender implica- Teaching methods
tions when combined with a dominant form of mas-
culinity based on aggression. He says that the pres- Pupils were not encouraged to think critically and
ence of high levels of ‘legitimate’ violence in schools were often punished if they gave a wrong answer.
contributes to high levels of violence in society. By This indicates that the pupils lacked opportunities
ignoring sexual harassment in Kenyan schools, teach- to question concepts of gender that they are con-
ers are allowing and even supporting it, leaving the fronted with in class and therefore may have been
victims in a helpless situation (Leach, 2003a). more inclined to internalise them (Wamahiu 1996,
Stromquist et al., 1998).

Power 5.2 People

Schools often enforce norms which encourage boys Schools as male-dominated institutions
to view power and aggression as part of being mas-
culine (Connell, 1989). Similar findings are shown in a The school director employed 31 teachers. Twenty-
study of UK schools by Mac an Ghaill, who found that seven were male, all but one of whom taught in
‘dominant definitions of masculinity are affirmed’ upper primary. The four females taught the lower
and encourage boys to want to prove themselves primary classes.
among their peers (1994: 4). Such dominant mascu-
linities often encourage adolescent boys to view sex The main reason given by teachers for the lack of
as their right. Studies of adolescent pupils in Kenya female employees was the heavy workload in upper
have found worrying male sexual norms that con- primary, based on the assumption that women were
sidered aggressive sexual advances towards girls, unable to work in the evenings because of their
unprotected sex, and even getting girls pregnant as domestic duties. However, most of the male teach-
signs of ‘male prowess’ (Omale, 2000; Nzioka, 2001; ers were not married and therefore had to complete
Mutunga & Stewart, 2003). domestic chores themselves. This is an example of
gender attribution, whereby attitudes prevalent in
Spatial organisation is often gendered. Many studies the household and community about ‘women’s work’
have illustrated how boys dominate classroom and are re-contextualised in the employment structure of
outdoor space, both physically and verbally, with the school.
displays of power over female pupils (Dunne, 2007;
Gordon, 1996; Wolpe, 1988). Similarly, male and At the case-study school, the lack of female teachers
female teachers often occupy different spaces, which in upper primary meant that adolescent girls found
may indicate a power hierarchy (Dunne, 2007). it difficult to seek advice and support. The boarding
mistress explained:

‘If all female teachers were in upper primary and
males were in lower I don’t think there would
be much indiscipline… If there were six or seven

54

females in the upper primary the school would submit to their requests.
be very comfortable. The girls could be encour-
aged…with different female teachers counsel- 5.4 Rules and norms
ling them, it would create room for change.’
Although officially the school rules did not show any
One male teacher explained ‘when a female teacher differentiation based on gender, there were strongly
is brought to upper primary the pupils see her as gendered unofficial rules and norms.
weak, and they cannot take her seriously’, a thought
expressed by four other teachers and numerous Gender-specific criteria
pupils. This suggests that the gendered hierarchy of
teachers may influence the pupils’ concepts of male Among teachers, gender framing was strong. Many
and female capabilities. Women were associated believed that boys were more likely to misbehave in
with lower-status roles and therefore purportedly class, whereas girls were more likely to be sexually
failed to command the same respect and authority active. A number of male and female pupils felt that
as their male colleagues. The traditional association male teachers tended to favour girls in class, particu-
of women with more ‘maternal’ roles is re-contextu- larly the attractive ones.
alised by the deliberate gendered employment pat-
terns in the school, in which women are given more ‘Some treat boys and girls differently. Maybe
caring and nurturing roles, namely teaching the very a teacher will want a relationship with a girl.
youngest pupils. Then when it is time to cane they leave her or
they tell her she must come to the staff room to
5.3 Resources be caned. Even when the teacher is teaching he
just keeps smiling at her, even if a girl has said
The cost of schooling the wrong answer. But with the boys, if a boy is
brighter the teacher will favour him.’ Standard
As has been found in previous studies, the hidden 8 girl
costs of schooling were a particular problem for girls
in the case-study school. The need for new uniforms By evaluating girls according to their physical appear-
was particularly problematic for adolescent girls. ance, and boys according to their academic perfor-
Those who had outgrown their school dresses some- mance, teachers transmitted messages about the
times faced derogatory comments from teachers. different characteristics considered to be valuable
The boarding mistress explained that: in boys and girls. Despite this, the pupils did not
passively accept this message and resented being
‘The [school] environment can be friendlier to a treated according to different criteria.
boy. They have fewer necessities. But the girls
must need extra things, like sanitary towels Gendered rules relating to sexuality
and inner clothes. Even toilet paper. For a girl
to prosper in school the parent must spend a Where strict definitions of gender are imposed, girls
lot of money.’ may face extensive ‘policing’: having to conform to
numerous restrictions on their movements, dress
A number of girls mentioned that some of the unmar- and behaviour ‘for their own safety’ (Mirembe and
ried male teachers tried to attract female pupils by Davies, 2001: 407). At the case-study school there
showing off their money or fashionable clothes. By were a number of rules relating to behaviour that
doing so, these teachers may have encouraged some applied only to the girls. They were punished if their
of the girls to view the exchange of material items or dresses were too short, or if they received any letters
money for sexual favours as normal. from boys. Regarding sexual relationships between
pupils in the school, one girl explained:
Around a third of the female pupils interviewed
described how boys would try and attract them ‘The teachers don’t check if it is true. They just
by offering gifts or money, a type of relationship hear rumours. The punishment may be the
common between male and female adolescent pupils same for the boy, but the cases for boys are
in Kenya (Mensch & Lloyd, 1998). Many of the girls rarely heard. The teachers don’t find out about
described how some boys may become aggressive or the boys, they don’t care.’ Standard 8 girl
make threats if girls refuse their advances, indicating
a sense of expectation among the boys that the girls Pregnancy was a problem in the school, and the head
teacher explained that if a girl became pregnant she
was not allowed to register to sit exams at the school

55

and was ‘discouraged’ from returning. Pregnancy teacher explained:
was simply seen as something to be punished. One
girl explained: ‘Boys want to prove their manhood by not
crying when being caned. They don’t like caning
‘This year and last year many dropped out because if they cry they feel like they are not a
because of pregnancy. But the teachers don’t man. We tell them they shouldn’t cry. If they
give advice, they just punish. They just come cry, we add them more.’
in and punish all the girls in that class...They
accuse us.’ Standard 8 girl The teachers were imposing concepts of masculin-
ity onto the boys, who responded by conforming to
There was a tendency among teachers to link the avoid further punishment. This demonstrates very
girls’ school work with assumptions about their strong framing, as the boys were given little oppor-
sexual behaviour: tunity to question the kind of gender identity being
imposed on them. There is evidence that by caning
‘Sometimes if we do badly on a test they punish boys more than girls, boys build up resentment
us and they say bad things, like ‘you must have towards girls (Chege, 2006).
boyfriends, ah you must be having ten of them’’.
Standard 8 girl According to the boys, male teachers ‘would not
show mercy’ to them, but were much more forgiving
For the boys, on the other hand, sexual activity did towards female pupils who were able to ‘negotiate’
not have severe consequences for their schooling their way out of punishments. One girl explained:
and few attempts were made to discover if any of
the boys were responsible for a pregnancy. By ignor- ‘The boys are caned harder…They pretend as
ing boys’ sexual behaviour in this way, and policing if they don’t feel the cane. So the teacher feels
the girls’ in such an authoritarian manner, pupils are bad, like he is not hurting you. When he canes
taught that it is only the girl who is responsible for a the girls you show you are in pain, and maybe
pregnancy: an attitude commonly held among both rub your buttocks. Then they might stop.’ Stand-
adolescent boys (Nzioka, 2001) and girls (Mensch & ard 8 girl
Lloyd, 1998) in Kenya. This promotes unequal gender
relations within a sexual partnership, meaning that The girls are aware of the concepts of femininity
any messages the pupils are given about safe sex are held by teachers, and, as with the boys, conformed
likely to be undermined (Mirembe and Davies, 2001). in order to limit their punishments. Again, this indi-
cates strong framing. However, the extent to which
Gendered discipline patterns both the boys and girls internalised these concepts
of masculinity and femininity was difficult to discern.
Many teachers and almost all male and female pupils
interviewed said that the boys were caned harder Aside from corporal punishment, other punishments
and more frequently than the girls. This was often were issued on a gendered basis. Three male teach-
observed in the staff room. Comments included: ers said that sweeping and mopping were not seri-
ous punishments for the girls, but were ‘shameful’
‘They put the cane very high and hit very hard. for the boys. The use of cleaning as a punishment for
They think the boys are stronger.’ Standard 7 boys is a deliberate attack on the masculine identity
boy that the teachers expected the boys to adhere to.

‘They think the boys are rude, ruder than the From the interviews with the pupils the high level of
girls, and that they have tough skin.’ Standard bullying in the school became apparent. The lack of
7 boy trust and support from teachers meant that incidents
of bullying went unreported, and most teachers
‘Most of the male teachers don’t like boys. The believed bullying was rare. The following comments
boys are rude, they resist the cane, they don’t illustrate this:
fear anything. Girls are fearful, they just do
what the teacher tells them. Boys don’t care ‘Bullying is like a tradition. If you tell a teacher
about even ten canes.’ Standard 8 girl the teacher sometimes cannot believe you. The
bully will take revenge on you. You just accept
By caning boys more frequently and more force- being bullied.’ Standard 8 boy
fully than girls, attributes such as physical strength
and the ability to withstand pain were ascribed to ‘The boys don’t tell the teachers. They solve
the pupils as ‘masculine’ characteristics. One male

56

their own problems’ Standard 7 boy been circumcised. A number of female pupils felt that
the circumcision of adolescent boys, at around the
5.5 Power age of fourteen, marked a dramatic transition in the
boys’ characteristics, from ‘shy and helpful’ to ‘rude
Complex power relations existed within and between and angry’, which demonstrates the significance of
the various levels of the school hierarchy. There was cultural definitions of adulthood.
a clear distinction between upper and lower primary
teachers in terms of status and decision-making The ‘big boys’ showed resistance to school uniform
power in staff meetings. This had an obvious gender rules by wearing ‘sagging’ trousers, and tended to
dimension because of the positioning of male teach- ‘bounce’ when they walked; gestures associated with
ers (upper primary) and female teachers (lower pri- rap artists. The ‘big boys’ wanted to demonstrate
mary). that they were different, and superior, to other pupils
by resisting the school’s classification of them as chil-
Gendered space dren. They asserted their superior age and masculin-
ity, manifested in aggressive behaviour, over other
The staff room at the case-study school was an arena pupils.
where gender power relations were played out. The
female teachers very rarely entered the staff room, According to many pupils, the ‘big boys’ were respon-
with the exception of staff meetings, instead pre- sible for the majority of the bullying that took place
ferring to sit outside. The male teachers dominated against younger boys, and a number of girls claimed
the staff room; they had desks and chairs, and were that they faced abusive comments and unwanted
served lunch. This indicates strong gender classifi- sexual advances from them.
cation among the teachers, whereby informal rules
govern their spatial organisation and illustrate the ‘Some of the big boys bully others. You might
higher status of the male teachers. The gendered be in a corner and then if you step on him he
nature of spatial organisation was echoed among will beat you because he knows that he is more
male and female pupils, who sat separately during powerful than you. He is stronger, older, and
classes and meal times. On the playing field, boys bigger.’ Standard 7 boy
took up much more of the space for their games,
which is a demonstration of the unequal power rela- ‘The girls are sometimes mistreated by the big
tions between girls and boys (Gordon, 1996). boys. It can be any boy, as long as he is big. If
you are the last to leave they can turn off the
Entering the staff room was an unnerving experi- light then they will say bad things.’ Standard 8
ence for pupils. However, whereas all pupils could girl
face disparaging comments from teachers intend-
ing to humiliate them, comments towards girls were ‘The big boys can get girlfriends from the lower
sometimes sexual in nature. Furthermore, girls were classes. The teachers don’t know. The girls
often asked to run numerous errands for teachers. fear boys, so they say no. So the boys go to
A number of girls said that if they had to go into the the younger girls, like from class 6. They don’t
staff room they tried to go in groups. Both male and know the consequences, they are still young.’
female pupils mentioned other coping strategies, Standard 8 girl
such as using a different route to get to class to avoid
having to pass the staff room. This last comment illustrates how age and gender
combine to shape the unequal power relations
Dominant forms of masculinity among pupils, and describes the vulnerability of
those girls at the very early stages of adolescence.
As the boys at the case-study school reached ado- When interviewed, the boys who fell into this group
lescence, gender became a significant defining factor tended to boast about their sexual experiences, and
in their power relations, which had previously been often made derogatory comments about the girls.
based primarily on age. Of particular interest were
those pupils known as ‘big boys’. These boys were 6. Conclusion
in the later stages of adolescence, and tended to be
older than most pupils in their class, as well as having From the analysis of the case study and secondary lit-
erature, it is clear that a school culture based on strict
authoritarianism and traditional teaching methods
restricts a pupil’s ability to criticise the gender iden-

57

tities encouraged by the school. At the same time, The concepts of ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ that
schools transmit messages – through the hidden cur- are cultivated and reinforced in Kenyan schools are
riculum – that promote unequal gender power rela- strictly defined and regulated. Unequal gender rela-
tions. The experiences of adolescent pupils in Kenya tions are promoted and normalised through gen-
are characterised by a lack of support and guidance, dered pedagogical practices, informal rules and dis-
and strict regulation of their gendered behaviour and cipline patterns. Pupils at the case-study school did
sexuality. not passively accept the gender identities imposed
on them, but nor were they given much opportunity
The sexualisation of female adolescent pupils, to resist them. This suggests that the authoritarian
through informal rules governing their sexuality and nature which characterises many Kenyan schools
by sexual comments and harassment by male teach- presents a significant challenge to the promotion of
ers, promotes unequal gender relations and asserts equal gender relations. Nevertheless, the pupils did
the idea that girls are sexual objects. This is internal- demonstrate a number of coping strategies that ena-
ised by the pupils to the extent that boys often use bled them to negotiate the gender identity expected
gifts or money to attract girls, and may act aggres- of them, and in some instances they knowingly con-
sively if their advances are refused. Girls may view formed in order to minimise their punishment whilst
sex as something that can be exchanged for mate- remaining critical of their teachers’ behaviour. The
rial items, therefore putting themselves in vulnerable authoritarian, violent school environment harboured
situations in which they are more likely to neglect a rigidly imposed gender regime, the response to
their reproductive rights and wellbeing. The power which manifested itself in aggressive expressions of
imbalance between male teachers and female pupils ‘masculine’ power by adolescent boys against girls
makes this vulnerability particularly acute. and younger boys. This appears to be the most signif-
icant way in which Kenyan schools cultivate unequal
The demand for adolescent boys to conform to con- gender relations which permeate into wider society,
cepts of masculinity based on physical dominance perpetuating deeply-embedded forms gender ine-
and violence encourages a male peer culture that quality.
views aggression and ‘risky’ sexual behaviour as
signs of male prowess. This is instilled through gen- Limitations and reflections
dered discipline patterns, which also cause a sense
of resentment among boys towards girls. The use of Due to the case study methodology employed,
corporal punishment and the teachers’ ignorance the findings cannot be said to be representative of
of violent behaviour among pupils legitimise the Kenyan schools. However, the school did bare many
use of violence as a method to assert authority. The similarities to other schools that have been previously
accepted violence is used to impose power relations researched and the main conclusions reinforce many
among pupils, in which the ‘big boys’ dominate. of the findings from earlier studies. The case study
was successful in providing a deeper insight into the
A gendered hierarchy among school staff, which gender relations present in the school and the find-
in the case-study school was deliberately based on ings indicate themes that could be researched fur-
traditional gendered divisions of labour, means that ther.
pupils see male teachers in higher-status positions
and commanding greater authority than female Bibliography
teachers. Therefore, they associate women with
positions subordinate to men. In addition to this, Aikmen, S, Unterhalter, E. & Boler, T. (eds.). 2008. Gender,
an authoritarian discipline system and didactic, Equality, HIV and AIDS: A Challenge for the Education Sector.
non-reflective teaching methods mean that pupils London: Oxfam
lack opportunities to question and discuss the kind
of values and knowledge being presented to them. Ajowi, J. O. & Simatwa, M. W., 2010. The role of guidance and
Although the curriculum included topics that pre- counselling in promoting student discipline in secondary
sented opportunities for discussion of gender and schools in Kenya: A case study of Kisumu district. Educational
sexuality, the teaching methods meant that these Research and Reviews, 5 (5), pp 263-272
opportunities were missed and messages that could
have challenged dominant gender power relations Arnot, M. 2002. Reproducing Gender? Essays on educational
were not transmitted. theory and feminist politics. London: RoutledgeFalmer

58

Bernstein, B. 1971. On the Classification and Framing of Gender-Analysis Frameworks. Oxford: Oxfam GB
Educational Knowledge. In M. Young (ed.) Knowledge and Mensch, B. & Lloyd, C. 1998. Gender Differences in the Schooling
Control: New directions for the sociology of education.
London: Collier Macmillan. Ch. 2 pp. 47-69 Experiences of Adolescents in Low-income Countries: The
case of Kenya. Studies in Family Planning, 29 (2), pp. 167-184
Bernstein, B. 1975. Class, Codes and Control. Vol. 3: Towards a Mirembe, R. & Davies, L. 2001. Is Schooling a Risk? Gender,
theory of educational transmissions. London: Routledge and Power Relations, and School Culture in Uganda. Gender and
Kegan Paul Education, 13 (4), pp. 401-416
Nike Foundation, 2010. Investing in the girl effect: the most
Bourdieu, P. & Passeron, J. 1977. Reproduction In Education, powerful force for change [online] Available at: http://www.
Society and Culture. London: Sage nikefoundation.org/index.html [accessed 11.12.10]
Nzioka, C. 2001. Perspectives of adolescent boys on the risks
Bryman, A. 2004. Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections:
University Press Kenya. Reproductive Health Matters, 9 (17), pp. 108-117
Omale, J. 2000. Tested to their limit: Sexual harassment in
Carter, C. 2002. School Ethos and the Construction of Masculine schools and educational institutions in Kenya. In J. Mirsky & M.
Identity: Do schools create, condone and sustain aggression? Radlett (eds), No Paradise Yet: The World’s Women Face the
Educational Review 54 (1) pp.27-36 New Century. London: The Panos Institute. Ch 2, pp. 19-38.
Population Reference Bureau, 2010. Improving the Reproductive
Chege, F. 2006. Teacher identities and empowerment Health of Sub-Saharan Africa’s Youth: A route to achieve the
of girls against sexual violence. Working paper EGM/ Millennium Development Goals. [online] Available at: http://
DVGC/2006/EP.13, UNICEF. [online] Available at: http:// www.prb.org/pdf10/youthchartbook.pdf [accessed 08.10.10]
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/elim-disc-viol-girlchild/ Ruto, S. J. & Chege, R. 2006. Violence Against Girls as a Structural
ExpertPapers/EP.13%20chege.pdf [accessed: 24.7.10] Barrier to Her Right to and in Education. Action Aid Kenya
Gender Desk.
Colclough, C. et al. 2003. Achieving Schooling for All in Africa: Silberschmidt, M. & Rasch, V. 2001. Adolescent girls, illegal
Costs, commitment and gender. Hants, England: Ashgate abortions and “sugar-daddies” in Dar es Salaam: vulnerable
victims and active social agents. Social Science and Medicine,
Connell, R. W. 1989. Cool Guys, Swots and Wimps: The interplay 52, pp. 1815-1826
of masculinity and education. Oxford Review of Education 15 Stromquist, N. P., Lee, M. & Brock-Utne, B. 1998. The Explicit
(3) pp.291-303 and the Hidden School Curriculum. In N. P. Stromquist (ed)
Women in the Third World: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary
Dunne, M. 2007. Gender, Sexuality and Schooling: Everyday Issues. London: Garland Publishing, Inc. pp.397-407
life in junior secondary schools in Botswana and Ghana. UNDP, 2010. Kenya Human Development Report 2009: Youth
International Journal of Educational Development 27, pp. 499- and Human Development: Tapping on the Untapped Resource
511 (Draft 5). [online] Available at: http://www.kepsa.or.ke/pdfs/
UNDP_National%20Human%20Development%20Report_
Elimu Yetu Coalition, 2005. The Challenge of Educating Girls in Draft_%20Jan%202010.pdf [accessed 18.10.10]
Kenya. In S. Aikmen & E. Unterhalter (eds.), Beyond Access: Unterhalter, E. 1999. The Schooling of South African Girls.
Transforming Policy and Practice for Gender Equality in In C. Heward and S. Bunwaree (eds) Gender, Education and
Education. London: Oxfam Development: Beyond Access to Empowerment. Ch. 4, pp. 49-
64. London: Zed Books
Giroux, H. 1983. Theory and Resistance in Education: A Pedagogy Wamahiu, S. P. 1996. The Pedagogy of Difference: An African
for the Opposition. London: Heinemann Educational Books Perspective. In P. Murphy & C. V. Gipps (eds) Equity in the
Classroom: Towards an Effective Pedagogy for Girls and Boys.
Gordon, T. 1996. Citizenship, Difference and Marginality in London: Falmer Press
Schools: Spatial and Embodies Aspects of Gender Construction. Willis, P. 1977. Learning to Labour: How working class kids get
In P.F Murphy & C. V. Gipps (eds.), Equity in the Classroom: working class jobs. Hants, England: Saxon House
Towards Effective Pedagogy for Girls and Boys. London: The Wolpe, A. 1988. Within School Walls: The Role of Discipline,
Falmer Press Sexuality and the Curriculum. London: Routledge.

Harber, C. 2004. Schooling as Violence: How schools harm
pupils and societies. London: RoutledgeFalmer

Heward, C. & Bunwaree, S. 1999. Gender, Education and
Development: Beyond Access to Empowerment. London: Zed
Books

Kabeer, N. 1994. Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in
Development Thought. London: Verso

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2009. Kenya Demographic
and Health Survey 2008-9: Preliminary Report. [online]
Available at: http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADQ650.pdf
[accessed 6.11.10]

Leach, F. 2003a. Learning to be violent: The role of the school
in developing adolescent gendered behaviour. Compare: A
Journal of Comparative and International Education, 33 (3),
pp. 385-400

Leach, F. 2003b. Practising Gender Analysis in Education.
Oxford: Oxfam GB

Mac an Ghaill, M. 1994. The Making of Men: Masculinities,
Sexualities and Schooling. Birmingham: Open University Press

March, C., Smyth, I. & Mukhopadhyay, M. 1999. A Guide to

59

INCORPORATING DESTABILIZATION, “STRATEGIC ENGINEERED MIGRATION” AND
PROXYISM INTO THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE LOCALIZED GLOBAL STRUGGLE FOR

RESOURCE CAPTURE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE D.R. CONGO AND IRAQ

Sohrob Kamali
University of East London
[email protected]

Abstract:

The notion that Iraq was invaded and millions of people displaced for oil is a well known position. Less well
known is that millions have also been consistently displaced for fifteen years in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) and that natural resources are also an integral part of this ongoing situation. What are com-
monalities and differences between these two instances of conflict, violence and displacement?
This paper suggests that there is variation in the methods used in resource capture; the methods used are
designed to be most suitable for each context. It is argued that indirect methods of resource capture have
been neglected in academia. Three components of indirect resource capture are suggested: destabilization,
“strategic engineered migration” and what is referred to here as proxyism. These methods are also used in
direct resource capture, but they are not as important or prominent in it.
The paper argues that a ‘displacement-centred perspective’ is more insightful and appropriate than a ‘violent
conflict-centred perspective’ in the context of many contemporary conflicts, due to the emergence of ‘New
Wars’, and of displacement as a more prominent feature of these conflicts. It is suggested that forced dis-
placement is more prominent due to the global struggle for resource capture.

HYPOTHESES as a reality. Other natural resources are just as finite
as fossil fuels and are also subject to depletion as
That “strategic engineered migration” is employed economic entities such as states and corporations
in resource rich regions as a tool for resource cap- seek to sustain their limitless pursuit of economic
ture and that this tool is a greatly under-explored growth, which it should not be forgotten is an expo-
phenomenon when considered in the context of its nential process. Increasingly, it has been argued that
importance and utility. the major wars of the near future, and indeed many
of the wars of the present, are largely about and are
That the means of resource capture may be different likely to be about competition for access to natural
in different contexts, indeed suitability of resource resources (e.g. Heinberg, 2007; Klare, 2008).
capture methods is essential for each particular
context, but nonetheless the final result of cheap The struggle for resource capture around the world
resource capture remains the same. is surely increasing. The global human population is
higher than ever before, at almost seven billion indi-
That resource capture may be conducted either viduals, and the economic conditions of millions of
directly, or indirectly (known as proxyism) and that these individuals is now changing, for example in
this is a vastly under-explored aspect of contempo- India and China, so that luxuries which previously
rary resource capture, and under-explored in the Westerner’s mainly enjoyed, are now demanded
study of contemporary conflicts generally, when con- by many more. The struggle for resource capture is
sidered in the context of its importance and utility. becoming even more intense as the world becomes
increasingly multipolar.
THE EXPANDING GLOBAL STRUGGLE FOR RESOURCE
CAPTURE We now live in an age of endless consumer choice.
Corporations are seeking resources as cheap as pos-
Oil, the single most important energy source for the sible in order to be as profitable as they can. In an
global economy, is increasingly in demand and yet age of global economic recession, corporations pre-
the notion of peak oil is also increasingly recognised sumably cannot ‘afford’ to consider ‘luxuries’ such

60

as reasonable exchange for natural resources, fair this case oil, utilised military invasion by their own
remuneration for labour, human rights and impact state armies in order to overthrow the government
on ecosystems. This is the nature of global capital- of Iraq and to replace it with an Iraqi government
ism. more friendly to U.S. corporate and U.S. government
interests.
On the other hand, technology is becoming increas-
ingly miniscule and therefore, less resource demand- Note that the term ‘resource capture’ does not mean
ing, although these reductions are unlikely to be only or necessarily that a resource is captured for
substantial enough to offset the more general sus- the sole consumption of the capturer; it may also be
tained and increasing demand for increasingly scarce captured for consumption by allies of the capturer.
resources. Furthermore, and importantly, a resource may be
captured also for the purpose of its overall control
What are the means of resource capture in this global and for denying resource access to the competitors
struggle? It is argued that some means of resource of the capturer. Indeed, in addition to the purpose
are direct whereas others are more indirect. of capturing Iraqi oil for direct U.S. consumption,
Klare (2003: 134) argues that the invasion of Iraq was
DIRECT RESOURCE CAPTURE intended to enable the U.S. to maintain hegemony,
specifically by denying a potentially important supply
This paper is contrasting direct and indirect resource of energy to the major rising power that is China.
capture, with the intention in particular to empha-
sise the latter due to its neglect relative to its role Indirect resource capture is more complex and varied
and importance. The paper starts, therefore, with than direct resource capture. The context of the
looking at direct resource capture to set the context former requires a more detailed look at globalisation.
for indirect resource capture.
LOCAL-GLOBAL DICHOTOMY
The theory that Iraq was invaded in 2003 in order
to capture the oil wealth within that country is not Some global actors, such as multinational corpora-
a controversial or radical viewpoint. It is not a mere tions as well as generally less global actors that are
coincidence that Iraq was subject to military interven- states (although some of the most powerful states
tion and is also the second largest source of proven act very globally indeed, such as the U.S. and China),
and relatively easily accessible oil in the world (Billon, all compete for the same finite resources.
2005), which is even more pertinent in the context
of declining supplies of this non-renewable resource The term global, however, should not imply that all
which is still vital to the global economy. of humanity, including direct actors (states, corpo-
rations etc.), indirect actors (citizens of states, cus-
Platform (2009) documents the way in which Iraq’s tomers of corporations etc.) and all those civilians
oil wealth was controlled and opened up to Western acted upon and made to be subjects (in resource rich
multinational oil companies following the 2003 inter- regions of the Global South) are all equally conscious
vention. of this struggle and experiencing its effects. This is
the paradox in which the global struggle for resource
There is very little if any academic acknowledgement capture is localized: only relatively local popula-
and understanding of the variation in methods used tions, whether in Iraq or the DRC for example, expe-
for resource capture. No academic support could be rience the most negative and direct effects of the
found which describes the invasion of Iraq as a case global struggle for resource capture. In some cases,
of direct resource capture, thereby distinguishing the struggle for resource capture is associated with
the Iraq case from other less direct, or indirect, cases violence and forced displacement. These ‘resource
of resource capture, although the notion that the wars’ are local due to the violence, displacement and
military invasion of Iraq involved resource capture human suffering that results from them, whereas they
is widely agreed upon. The invasion of Iraq in 2003, are global in the sense that the local act as stages on
may be described as an example of direct resource which global and international actors, through proxy
capture simply because those actors (particularly the agents in some cases, compete for access to natural
United States, whereas other actors may have been resources, as well as the local actors whose motives
involved largely in order to appear loyal and allied should not be neglected either. For example, Esco-
to the U.S.) that sought capture of the resource, in

61

bar (2004) highlights the interaction of the local and been indirect, as a consequence of starvation). The
global in the context of conflict in Colombia which extent of displacement is a neglected aspect of the
has displaced millions of civilians, stating the “local measurement and comparison of contemporary
war is, at least partially, a surrogate for global (espe- conflicts. This is particularly significant in the con-
cially US) interests”. text of contemporary conflicts which involve a strug-
gle for resource capture, in which as it is argued in
Similarly, Castles (2006: p.15) highlights the local- this paper, displacement is more prominent, and
global nexus, stating “Micro-level political econo- yet in most research on the resource curse, and its
mies of conflict can show how the supply-chains for relationship to violent conflict, academics use data
specific commodities (like diamonds, oil, timber or which excludes displacement and uses on other less
coltan) link local conflicts with the global economy.” relevant measurements such as primary commodity
exports or ‘battle-related deaths’.
Indeed, arguably the local-global dichotomy, aris-
ing along with globalisation, is a reason why a new If it is true that the global struggle for resource cap-
perspective for contemporary conflicts is required. A ture has resulted in greater violent conflict, but more
fresh perspective of conflicts, which emphasises the importantly, has resulted in greater displacement
role of globalisation including the local-global dichot- as it has intensified, then displacement data should
omy, arose in the 1990’s and has caused a great show this trend.
volume of debate.
One method of measuring displacement is by focus-
NEW WARS PERSPECTIVE OF FORCED DISPLACEMENT ing on internal displacement, that is, displacement
within the international borders of a country. Castles
The ‘New Wars’ literature has emerged in the last (2006: p.12) states that “Refugee numbers have been
two decades, proposing that contemporary conflicts declining in recent years… the number of ‘persons
(particularly those of the post-Cold War era) are sub- of concern to UNHCR’ has declined… Asylum seeker
stantially distinguished from those of the more dis- flows to industrialised countries grew considerably
tant past. until recently… IDPs, by contrast are more numerous
than ever.”
The role of forced displacement is particularly inter-
esting and significant in the context of contemporary The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (2011:
conflicts and the global struggle for resource capture. 9) finds that internal displacement fluctuated around
the time of the end of the ‘Cold War’. Since the end
Lischer (2007: 146) declares that “some types of civil of the ‘Cold War’, the number of internally displaced
war violence include displacement as a goal whereas, people has increased steadily by about 62 per cent
in other wars, displacement is an incidental outcome from 17 million while refugees have been found to
of the conflict.” be declining.

The new wars perspective tends to emphasise the (See Figure. 1)
former, that it is more common that displacement is
often sought in the ‘New Wars’ as an end in itself. However, citing numerous research studies to sup-
Indeed, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees port the observation, Malešević (2008: 98) argues
(2000: 282) claims that “refugee movements are no that “damaging to the new war paradigm is the well-
longer side effects of conflict, but in many cases are documented fact that both civil and inter-state wars
central to the objectives and tactics of war.” have been in decline since the early 1990s.”

FORCED DISPLACEMENT DATA Conflicts still tend to be viewed through a state-cen-
tric prism which may have lost much of its efficacy
The most widely used data on contemporary con- as a result of contemporary globalisation. Moreover,
flicts (e.g. Correlates of War Project, Armed Conflict although conflict often causes forced displacement,
Dataset etc.) are those which measure ‘battle-related there are numerous other causes and there are prob-
deaths’ and in some cases some form of measure lems with using forced displacement data to obtain
of civilian deaths, although the latter is particularly an indication of the intensity and incidence of con-
problematic without distinguishing between indi- flict around the world.
rect and direct civilian deaths (e.g. the majority of
deaths as a consequence of conflict in the DRC have Nonetheless, this paper is concerned not with

62

Figure 1.
Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (2011: 13)

making a general case for the new wars thesis, but of forced displacement is engineered and deliberate,
rather with making a case for the particular aspect rather than being a by-product of conflict which is
of the new wars thesis which claims that forced dis- presumed to be the case with the more generic term
placement is a more prominent and central charac- of ‘forced displacement’. However, Greenhill focuses
teristic of contemporary conflicts than in those of the almost entirely on political and military motives and
past. While contemporary conflicts may be declining, neglects economic motives (although there may be
the number of displaced people in general and with some overlap in these motives with regards to terri-
regard to IDPs and refugees in particular, has not torial acquisition). The author does accept that SEM
been declining in recent years, therefore, the relative can be “economically quite remunerative”, the eco-
prominence of displacement may be increasing. nomic benefits accruing from resource capture, for
actors at varying levels from the local to the global,
FUNCTIONS OF FORCED DISPLACEMENT are not mentioned. Again, the lack of consideration
of the economic motives for SEM shows through in
If it is the case that displacement is today more “cen- the conceptualization of SEM as a “weapon of war”.
tral to the objectives and tactics of war”, then why When economic motives dominate or form a signifi-
might this be? Greenhill (2008: 7) contends that in cant part of the motivation, it may be more appropri-
general “manipulation of population movements… ate to view war itself, as well as SEM, as a weapon
remains poorly understood.” This lack of under- utilized for the purpose of resource capture, or gen-
standing is all the more surprising given its promi- eral profiteering.
nence in many conflicts. Greenhill identifies 100 dif-
ferent conflicts in which deliberate manipulations There is little commentary and analyses linking SEM
of population movements are evident. Meanwhile, of civilians with resource capture, although in the
Posen (1999: 74) emphasises that the inducement of context of the global struggle for resource capture
civilians to leave their homes is used in instances of the latter may partly explain the former.
‘ethnic cleansing’.
Displacement may be more actively sought (by way
Greenhill (2008: 7) is one of the few academics to of SEM) in resource rich regions to aid resource cap-
recognise the prominence of deliberate forced dis- ture. There are two main ways in which SEM may
placement as a feature of contemporary conflicts aid in resource capture: to reduce or eliminate local
and refers to phenomenon as “Strategic Engineered resistance and opposition to resource capture and to
Migration” (SEM). This paper uses Greenhill’s term to increase the availability of cheap or slave labour for
emphasise the observation that this particular type resource capture.

63

FUNCTIONS OF DESTABILIZATION if a small group of people exploit the resource wealth
of some land, and the local residential population
Supporting both sides of a conflict is a traditional is safe, secure and psychologically healthy in their
method for sustaining a conflict in order to weaken homes, then they will be in a far stronger position to
states, destabilize a region and maximize SEM; the demand a portion of the wealth which accrues from
maximization of the profits of international weapons the natural wealth on which they also reside. Surviv-
companies is a further benefit. According to Kern ing in a conflict situation is the first priority of civilians
(2007: 98), the U.S. has at times supported 'oppos- before demanding a portion of profits accruing from
ing' sides in the localized conflict in the DRC: (indi- resource exploitation. Situations such as the armed
rectly) supporting the Rally for Congolese Democracy resistance of the Movement for the Emancipation of
through Rwanda and directly supporting Laurent the Niger Delta in Nigeria, which demands a portion
Kabila's government, which fights the RCD. Shantz of the profits accruing from oil wealth exploitation by
(2008: 133) similarly asserts that the U.S. has sup- Shell Corporation, are be avoided through destabili-
ported seven states on different sides of the conflict. zation and SEM.

Why might the United States support opposing sides One of the staggering aspects of the localized global
in the conflict? Kern (2007: 98) suggests that the goal conflict in the DRC for example, is the incredible
of this seemingly nonsensical policy is to destabilize extent of the sexual violence which may be related to
the DRC, thereby facilitating natural resource cap- a desire on the part of the armed group to terrorise
ture. Similarly, Escobar (2004: 18) links “internal wars and displace the civilian population. Sexual violence
and massive displacement” with enabling resource is used by an armed group when it is believed by the
capture. group to be an effective form of terror (Wood, 2006:
331). Therefore, there may be a correlation between
Destabilization enables cheaper resource capture. the use of sexual violence, as a form of terror and
Shantz (2008: 136) claims “The pressing need to a means of SEM, and the desire to capture natural
finance the war put the Congo government in the resources.
desperate position of offering quick, under-valued
deals to mining companies over exploration rights. Cheap Labour and Slave Labour
This made resources available much more cheaply
than they would have been during peacetime con- When people are displaced from the land on which
ditions." Furthermore, according to Shantz (2008: they ordinarily reside, they become more vulner-
141), the destabilization brought by war keeps “min- able and open to exploitation (Downing, 2002: 3).
erals off the market and thereby increasing the prices Displaced people may be separated from land which
gained for minerals controlled by the multinational they may have used to grow cash crops or food for
mining firms." direct consumption. Displaced people may be sepa-
rated from other forms of livelihood and once dis-
It is a widely accepted, although perhaps not suffi- placed they may be compelled to seek some form
ciently so, that war is a profit-making enterprise for of employment in order to survive. In a region rich
some of the actors involved. However, what is sur- in natural wealth and with scarce job opportunities
prising is the extent to which localized conflicts such in general, artisanal mining may be the only viable
as that in the DRC are unrecognised for the benefits option. This kind of informal work, however, involves
they bring to international capital and the global numerous risks, including: relatively low or unguaran-
economy as a whole. teed remuneration; physically very demanding work
often involving walking long distances with heavy
Local Resistance to Resource Capture loads; physically very dangerous work underground
in mines; work is highly militarised (overseen by sol-
SEM may be conducted by local rebel militias or diers) who may force miners to work at gunpoint.
armies from neighbouring countries or by the army
of the people’s own government, but the effect is Jackson (2003: 25-26) compares the extra-ordinarily
the same. The level of violence and brutality inflicted high value of coltan during the 1999/2000 surge,
upon those whose removal from the land is sought stating that coltan was valued at up to US$ 500 per
may also vary. Sexual violence may be used, as are pound whereas coltan miners received between US$
other techniques aimed at terrifying the population 4 and 8 per pound. However, often miners have not
into submission and to move off the land. In contrast,

64

been remunerated at all in numerous cases of forced created directly by the intervention in Iraq, it could

labour in the DRC (Global Witness 2009: 5). have been foreseen.

If there was a comparison between the remuneration Destabilization and displacement could be a part
of displaced miners from conflict affected regions of the wider ‘shock and awe’ warfare used in Iraq,
on the one hand, and the remuneration of miners described by Klein (2007: 49) as the ‘shock doc-
in non-displacement/conflict affected regions, the trine’. A displaced and disorientated Iraqi population
former could be expected to be considerably less will have been more likely to submit to the will of
than the latter. The reason for this difference would the occupying forces and the new Iraqi government
not be a general explanation such as ‘conflict retards which was, initially at least, chosen directly by the US
development and causes poverty which depresses government and in which oil contracts were created.
wages’. Rather the explanation would be that the
global struggle for resource capture demands mini- With regards to displacement providing a cheap
mal costs for wealth extraction and therefore mini- labour source in the case of Iraq, the situation is
mal remuneration for most miners and displacement less clear than in the DRC. In the DRC, the cheap
helps create the vulnerability which can minimize labour source is valuable for the extraction of min-
remuneration. Costs are ‘externalized’ to miners erals which requires highly intensive labour in the
through the creation of instability, displacement and mines. The situation is very different with regard to
vulnerability. Remuneration is often not a sufficient oil, which requires more skilled labour which is often
living wage but is the best that is available to the provided by multinational corporations.
most impoverished and desperate. Children also par-
ticipate in mining, despite the risks, because of pov- DISPLACEMENT-CENTRED PERSPECTIVE
erty and due to a demand for their small bodies to
reach less accessible parts of mines. The role of displacement in modernity has arguably
not received the attention it deserves in general,
DESTABILIZATION AND “STRATEGIC ENGINEERED which has resulted in the neglect of the study of SEM.
MIGRATION” IN IRAQ Indeed, Escobar (2004) describes displacement as “a
feature of modernity that has become so naturalized
As argued previously, the 2003 invasion of Iraq is that it is no longer remarked upon and at times even
an example of direct resource capture. It is also celebrated”.
observed that forced displacement in Iraq since 2003
has been “the largest in the Middle East since the Referring to the new wars thesis, in this paper it has
1948 Palestinian displacement at the inception of been argued that forced human displacement has
the State of Israel” (Banta, 2008: 261). The number become a more central feature in some conflicts
of internally displaced in Iraq stood at 2.8 million as of today than before contemporary globalisation,
late as the end of 2010 (Internal Displacement Moni- largely due to the global struggle for resource cap-
toring Centre, 2011). Therefore, it may be implied ture but also potentially due to additional factors. It
from that the indirect method of resource capture of follows that violent conflict and displacement can be
SEM has been used in Iraq, despite involving what viewed from a displacement-centred perspective or
is clearly direct resource capture. However, whether from a violence-centred perspective.
forced displacement was engineered with deliberate
intent in Iraq is not as clear as it is in the DRC. Thus, Therefore, arguably, a case of forced displacement
in the case of Iraq, the displacement which occurred with violence and conflict (strategic engineered
from 2003 is unlike SEM but displacement may still migration) may share more in common with a case
be seen as a tool of resource capture in this case. Dis- of forced displacement without violence or conflict
placement may be a tool in both direct and indirect (such as development induced displacement) than
resource capture, but it is more evident in the latter. the former shares in common with a case of violent
conflict in which displacement is not engineered and
Iraq was clearly destabilized as a consequence of the sought actively. Taking these categories to present
2003 intervention. Conflict emerged between differ- an example, the case of the DRC may share more in
ent religious, ‘ethnic’ and cultural groups emerged in common with the case of India, in which between
Iraq (e.g. Sunni, Shia, Kurdish) and this contributed to 1950 and 1990, 2.55 million people were displaced
the destabilization of Iraq and although this was not as a consequence of mining projects, than the DRC
shares with a violent conflict such as World War Two

65

or an intra-state conflict such as that in Peru. Indeed, 14) identifies proxy war as evident in numerous con-
the conceptual separation of displacement caused flicts in the historical record.
by war or development projects has been criticised
by several academics, including Cernea (1990: 320) It appears that it has been assumed that with the
and Muggah (2003: 6). end of the ‘Cold War’, proxyism also ceased to exist.
However, arguably, just as proxyism served its func-
Capitalism has resulted in a mass displacement of tion during the ‘Cold War’, it may also serve a func-
peasants from the land, a process which continues tion today. The ‘Cold War’ was fought through prox-
today. For example, the International Institute for ies to win political influence and access to natural
Environment and Development (2011) reports on resources. In a sense, therefore, the ‘Cold War’ was
‘land grabs’ in Asia, Africa and Latin America, which also a localized global struggle for resource capture.
are being conducted by corporations and other states. Arguably, there is a great deal of similarity between
This mass displacement has resulted in a reduction in the ‘Cold War’ era and post-‘Cold War’ era, in terms
resilience and an increase in the likelihood of hunger. of methods for resource capture.
In the case of the DRC, the majority of fatalities as a
consequence of the conflict and displacement have However, several commentators have made sig-
been a result of starvation (IRC, 2008). Therefore, this nificant contributions to the concept of proxyism in
is a point of similarity between the DRC for example, warfare, referred to as proxy war. Exenberger and
and non-conflict situations in which displacement Hartmann (2007: 17) make a distinction between
has led to hunger and starvation. direct violence and indirect violence in the context
of the DRC “Both African and global actors have…
PROXYISM IN THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE FOR RESOURCE consciously used violence to maximise their profits,
CAPTURE whereby direct violence has usually come from (vis-
ible) actors in the Congo and indirect violence has
‘Proxyism’ may be defined as the use of armed forces often been directed by global external actors.” This
in a conflict situation, that is, armed militias who act recognition by Exenberger and Hartmann is an impor-
on behalf of a state, corporation or other group, the tant one, and this distinction can also be applied to
latter usually being hidden and/or distant from the resource capture, so that there are direct and indi-
local violence which it sponsors. The term ‘proxy war’ rect methods of resource capture.
is avoided here, despite being used by some other
authors, since such a term may constitute reduction- Proxyism is not necessarily only a feature of the
ism of complex conflict situations in which the use of armed conflict or of the global struggle for resource
intermediaries is only one facet and this term may capture; its functions and advantages remain intact
also erroneously portray so-called proxies as mind- in a variety of contexts. It is, however, nonetheless
less automatons without any motivations of their argued here that proxyism is a prominent feature
own, which Cramer (2006: 81) agrees with. The term of contemporary resource capture and the primary
proxyism also allows for varying degrees of proxyism example which demonstrates this is the resource
rather than conflicts being divided simply into proxy capture having occurred in the DRC.
war or not proxy war.
Corporation-Rebel Militia Proxyism
Proxyism is not adequately understood in academia,
relative to its significance and prominence in con- The DRC is an example, in which, several multina-
temporary conflicts. Craig (2010: 3) and Salehyan tional corporations directly dealt with and assisted
(2010) are both critical of state-centric conceptions rebel militias. If these organisations, which are a
of conflict, the latter arguing that these tend to end product of globalisation, are indeed central figures
up “ignoring the substitution between direct uses in contemporary conflicts, then can it be denied that
of force and indirect action through rebel organiza- the nature of conflicts has changed in a fundamen-
tions.” tal way as a result of globalisation? The UN Security
Council (2001: para.215) declares: “A number of com-
The neglect of proxyism in academia is even more panies have been involved and have fuelled the war
puzzling due to the widely acknowledged nature of directly, trading arms for natural resources. Others
the ‘Cold War’ as a localized proxy war between the have facilitated access to financial resources, which
U.S. and the Soviet Union. Furthermore, Craig (2010: are used to purchase weapons.”

66

State-Rebel Militia Proxyism how Rwanda and Uganda pillaged eastern DRC, and
exported the resources to the international com-
A significant number of academic articles, although modity markets, and without criticism from bilateral
perhaps not a relatively and proportionately sig- aid donors. Western involvement has facilitated the
nificant number when taking into consideration the illegal pillaging of the DRC to such an extent that the
importance of this form of proxyism, recognise the intentions should be clear, even down to the trans-
use of non-state proxy armies by states. However, portation by air of smuggled minerals by a Belgian
no article could be found which explicitly argues that airline from Kigali, Rwanda (Vick, 2001).
non-state proxies now form an significant compo-
nent of the means to resource capture in the modern PROXYISM IN IRAQ
globalised world.
It has been argued that proxyism is a tool that is
With regard to state support for rebel militia’s, it used in the modern era for the purpose of indirect
has been widely reported that several rebel mili- resource capture. To what extent has proxyism been
tia’s occupying the DRC have been supported by used in Iraq even though as has been argued previ-
state neighbours, with Rwanda backing the Rally ously, this is a case of direct resource capture?
for Congolese Democracy and Uganda creating and
backing the Mouvement pour la liberation du Congo Arguably, the case of the 2003 capture of Iraq’s natu-
(Reyntjens, 2007: p.308; Boas & Jennings, 2008: 167; ral wealth is not entirely direct. Although there is no
Amnesty International, 2003: 3; Prunier, 2008: 294; illusion or doubt about the reality of Western inter-
Scharf, 2003: 213). vention in Iraq, a limited proxyism has arguably been
practiced in Iraq in the form of Private Military and
State-State Proxyism Security Companies (PMSC, also known as merce-
naries) hired by the U.S. government. Mercenaries
Some commentators argue the case for proxy war have constituted the second largest occupying force
a further step, by declaring that states such as the in Iraq after the U.S. military (Dearden & Mathieu,
U.S. and U.K. have used states such as Rwanda and 2007: 746). Interestingly, as in the DRC, around the
Uganda as proxies in the localized conflict occurred world resource capture is it seems increasingly mili-
in the DRC, although this is a rare viewpoint (Shantz, tarized with the assistance of mercenaries: “protect-
2008). ing extractive industry infrastructure remains a key
element in PMSC operations” (Dearden & Mathieu,
Reid (2006: 82) claims “during Rwanda and Uganda’s 2007: 747). As an example in Iraq, the Aegis Defence
period of greatest appropriation of resources in the Services and Erinys Intemational Ltd among others
DRC, the development community appeared to hail have worked in protecting Iraq’s oil fields after 2003,
these two countries as models of economic develop- in addition to the U.S. military (Dearden & Mathieu,
ment, and promoted the introduction of uncondi- 2007: 746).
tional aid”. This is not merely coincidental. Reid ques-
tions if these aid flows (including military aid) have FUNCTIONS OF PROXYISM
facilitated the invasions of the DRC and why donors
did change their aid policy (although Nordic coun- Arguably, proxy actors serve an important function in
tries did so) despite it being “impossible” that donors modern times, indeed Juma (2006: 5) explains: “Indi-
could not be aware of the human rights violations and viduals or groups that carry out the dirty business of
illegal pillage of the DRC conducted by Rwanda and legitimate functionaries within governments, or the
Uganda. Vick (2001) states that how the tiny coun- clandestine wings of multinational corporations are
try of Rwanda has financed its military operations in often dismissed as criminals, but with little effort to
the DRC, which has been the largest occupation of trace their principals. This is because they are a vital
its enormous central African neighbour, has puzzled part of internationalism.”
“diplomats and World Bank officials”, although the
source of funding is very clear: bilateral aid and prof- The most obvious reason why contemporary conflicts
its accruing from resource exploitation. may involve proxyism is that this system enables that
those who have the greatest interest in these con-
A possible motive for state-state proxyism in this case flicts are hidden from view. These hidden actors can
again could be related to resource expropriation. The therefore avoid criticism by denying involvement.
UN Security Council (2001: 19-26) has clearly shown Indeed, Citing examples of the Former Yugoslavia

67

and the ‘janjaweed’ in Sudan, Lischer (2007: 147) money’ ‘investment’ to enable the pillage of $24 tril-
contends “The state may use militias or other irregu- lion, including minerals which are almost exclusively
lar groups as a way to avoid direct responsibility for available from the DRC such as columbo-tantalite
violence against civilians.” However, Lischer does not (coltan). Coltan is a remarkably valuable mineral in
give much attention to the notion that proxyism in itself for the global economy: it is essential for the
warfare may be used at a more international level or manufacture of mobile phones (which the majority
in a different way than by a state government in its of humanity now possess and continually replace)
own territory and against its own population. among many other products including military hard-
ware, the tools of conquest.
The idea of human rights has been popular, or seen
to be popular, since the end of the Second World War CONCLUSIONS
and formal decolonisation. The Universal Declaration
of Human Rights was signed in 1948, after decolo- This paper has stressed the variation in methods
nisation had begun. Human rights now officially fea- used in the global struggle for resource capture. It
ture in the domestic law of many countries, as well as was suggested that the invasion and occupation of
in international law. Therefore, from a human rights Iraq was a direct method of resource capture while
perspective many overt and direct military interven- that in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for exam-
tions would not be acceptable from a human rights ple, utilizes different more indirect methods, but it is
perspective. The prominence of human rights dis- nonetheless, at the root of it, part of the same strug-
course is evident, ironically, in the Iraq case when gle for resource capture.
human rights was used as a pretext for both the 1991
and 2003 interventions in Iraq. In common with the new wars thesis and the global
struggle for resource capture, it was pointed out that
Thus, proxyism arguably forms part of the solution “strategic engineered migration” has become a focal
to the conundrum of how to conduct resource cap- aspect of contemporary violent conflicts. This change
ture in the post-colonial era. In the colonial era, natu- in conflicts could in large part be due to the global
ral resources were captured simply and directly by struggle for resource capture.
the colonial powers, without much opposition from
domestic populations and with scarce concern for the It was highlighted in this paper that states and popu-
human rights of the colonised as for today’s ‘post- lations of those states are impoverished and weak-
colonised’. Today, in contrast, multinational corpora- ened through destabilization by the means of conflict,
tions and other even less democratically unaccount- violence and displacement. The result of this process
able groups conduct most of the resource capture. is a reduced ability of those subjected to this policy
to resist the exploitation of natural resources and an
Secondly, the use of proxyism may simply be cheaper increased need and tendency to accept under-valued
and a more efficient means of resource capture deals for resource exploitation.
than direct involvement in every instance where it is
desired. In contrast, the direct resource capture seen This paper proposed that states and corporations
in Iraq is estimated to have cost trillions of US dollars, delegate resource capture, and assistance in the pro-
and perhaps even as high as US$3 trillion (Bilmes & cess of resource capture (e.g. by displacing civilians
Stiglitz, 2008). Contrast the cost of direct resource and producing a cheap supply of labour), to largely
capture in Iraq with the indirect resource capture unaccountable rebel militias. This usually indirect
which has occurred in the DRC (assuming state-state method of resource capture enables the states and
proxyism is present): bilateral aid, grants and debt companies to more easily evade responsibility and
relief awarded to states to finance the occupation of maintain deniability, while this indirect method can
the DRC total no more than several billion US dollars also be more efficient and cost-effective than direct
(Reid, 2006; Shantz, 2008). military intervention and resource capture.

The DRC is paradoxically a remarkably rich country It was argued that destabilization of countries, “stra-
(and the size of most of Europe), with wealth valued tegic engineered migration” and proxyism are all
at US$24 trillion (Morgan, 2009). The exploitation of under-recognised aspects of contemporary resource
this wealth is essential for a great deal of economic capture. The contention has been put forward that
growth in the Global North. Several billions of $US these forms of resource capture form part of the
dollars would justifiably be regarded as a ‘value for solution to the need for resource capture in the post-

68

colonial era in which the notion of ‘human rights’ is Global Witness (2009) “Faced With a Gun, What Can You Do?
highly regarded and accepted across the world. War and the Militarisation of Mining of Eastern Congo”,
available at: http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/
Finally, it was suggested that, based on the case-study files/pdfs/report_en_final_0.pdf (accessed 9 December 2011)
of the DRC, in which it appears “strategic engineered
migration” has been prominent, a displacement-cen- Greenhill, K.M. 2008. Strategic Engineered Migration as a
tred perspective can be more appropriate and useful Weapon of War. Civil Wars, 10(1), pp.6–21.
than a violent conflict-centred perspective. This
is because ostensibly the situation in the DRC may Heinberg, R. 2007. Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century
seem as a violent conflict, however, displacement of of Decline in Earth’s Resources, Forest Row (UK): Clairview
civilians is arguably more significant and sought after Books.
in this instance than is violence. Displacement in
the DRC shares much in common with displacement Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (2011) “Internal
in other ‘non-violent conflict’ situations, in which Displacement – Global Overview of Trends and Developments
‘development’ is sought such as in extractive mining. in 2010”. Available at: http://www.internal-displacement.or
g/8025708F004BE3B1/%28httpInfoFiles%29/F58CA5EF98A
Bibliography CEEB1C125785C00389FA8/$file/global-overview-2010-fact-
sheet.pdf (accessed 9 December 2011)
Amnesty International. 2003. “Our Brothers Who Help Kill Us –
Economic Exploitation and Human Rights Abuses in the East”. International Institute for Environment and Development
1 April 2003. AFR 62/010/2003. Available at: http://www. (2011) “‘Land grabs’ in Africa: is there an alternative?”.
grandslacs.net/doc/2759.pdf (accessed 16 October 2011). Available at: http://www.iied.org/blogs/%E2%80%98land-
grabs%E2%80%99-africa-there-alternative (accessed 9
Banta, B.R. 2008. Just War Theory and the 2003 Iraq War Forced December 2011)
Displacement. Journal of Refugee Studies, 21(3), pp.261–284.
International Rescue Committee (IRC) (2008) Mortality in the
Le Billon, P. 2005. Corruption, reconstruction and oil governance Democratic Republic of Congo: An Ongoing Crisis. Available
in Iraq. Third World Quarterly, 26(4-5), pp.685–703. at: http://www.rescue.org/sites/default/files/migrated/
resources/2007/2006-7_congomortalitysurvey.pdf (accessed
Bilmes, L.J. & Stiglitz, J.E., 2008. The Iraq War will cost us $3 9 December 2011)
trillion, and much more. Washington Post, 9 March, available
at: http://progressivemaryland.org/public/documents/CLIPS- Jackson, S. 2006. Borderlands and the transformation of war
TopStories/2008/april/2008-3-9wp-warwillcostover3trillion. economies: lessons from the DR Congo. Conflict, Security &
pdf (accessed 9 December 2011) Development, 6(3), pp.425–447.

Castles, S. 2006. Global perspectives on forced migration. Asian Kaldor, M. 1999. New wars and old wars: Organized violence in
and Pacific Migration Journal, 15(1), p.7. a global era, Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Cernea, M.M. 1990. Internal refugee flows and development- Klare, M. 2008. Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: How Scarce
induced population displacement. Journal of Refugee Studies, Energy Is Creating a New World Order, First Edition., London
3(4), p.320. (UK): Oneworld Publications.

Craig, D. 2010. State Security Policy and Proxy Wars in Africa. Klein, N., 2007. Disaster capitalism. Harper’s Magazine.
Strategic Insights, 9(1). Available at: http://www.angelfire.com/il/photojerk/klein.pdf
(Accessed 8 December 2011).
Cramer, C. 2006. Civil War Is Not a Stupid Thing: Accounting for
Violence in Developing Countries illustrated edition., C Hurst & Lacina, B. & Gleditsch, N.P. 2005. Monitoring trends in global
Co Publishers Ltd. combat: A new dataset of battle deaths. European Journal
of Population/Revue Européenne de Démographie, 21(2),
Downing, T.E. & Institute for Development Anthropology pp.145–166.
(Binghamton, N., 2002. Avoiding new poverty: Mining-induced
displacement and resettlement, International Institute for Lischer, S.K. 2007. Causes and Consequences of Conflict-Induced
Environment and Development. Displacement. Civil Wars, 9(2), pp.142–155.

Escobar, A., 2004. Development, violence and the new imperial Malešević, S. 2008. The sociology of new wars? Assessing the
order. Development, 47(1), pp.15–21. causes and objectives of contemporary violent conflicts.
International Political Sociology, 2(2), pp.97–112.
Exenberger, A. & Hartmann, S., 2008. The Congo and World
Market Integration: A Dark History of Recurring Exploitation. Mathieu, F. & Dearden, N. 2007. Corporate Mercenaries: The
H. Marques, E. Soukiazis, P. Cerqueira (Hg.): Perspectives on Threat of Private Military & Security Companies. Review of
Integration and Globalisation, Münster: Lit-Verlag, pp.235–64. African Political Economy, 34(114), pp.744–755.

Gates, S., 2002. Empirically assessing the causes of civil war. Morgan, M.J. 2009. DR Congo’s $24 trillion fortune. African
In Convention of the 43rd Annual International Studies Business, February. Available at: http://findarticles.com/p/
Association, New Orleans, LA. pp. 24–27. articles/mi_qa5327/is_350/ai_n31355773/ (Accessed 6
December 2011)

Muggah, R. 2003. A Tale of Two Solitudes: Comparing Conflict
and Development-induced Internal Displacement and
Involuntary Resettlement. International Migration, 41(5),
pp.5–31.

Platform. 2009. Crude Designs: The rip-off of Iraq’s oil
wealth, Available at: http://dspace.cigilibrary.org/jspui/
bitstream/123456789/19523/1/Crude%20Designs%20
The%20Rip%20off%20of%20Iraqs%20Oil%20Wealth.pdf?1

69

(Accessed 7 December 2011)
Prunier, G. 2009. Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan

genocide, and the making of a continental catastrophe, Oxford
(UK): Oxford University Press.
Reid, T.B., 2006. Killing them Softly: Has foreign aid to Rwanda
and Uganda Contributed to the Humanitarian Tragedy in the
DRC? African Policy Journal, 1, pp.74–94.
Reyntjens, F. 2007. Briefing: Democratic Republic of Congo:
political transition and beyond. African affairs, 106(423),
pp.307–317.
Salehyan, I. 2010. The Delegation of War to Rebel Organizations.
Journal of Conflict Resolution, 54(3), p.493.
Shantz, J. 2008. Imperialism and the West’s Proxy War in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. Journal of International and
Peace Studies, 5(6), pp.123–142.
Vick, K. 2001. Vital Ore Funds Congo’s War: Combatants Profit
from Col-Tan Trade. Washington Post. Available at: http://
www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&n
ode=&contentId=A16657-2001Mar16 (Accessed 8 December
2011)
UN High Commissioner for Refugees. 2000. State of the World’s
Refugees: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action. New York (US):
Oxford University Press.
UN Security Council. 2001. Report of the Panel of Experts
on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other
Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
S/2001/357. Available at: http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/
Huridoca.nsf/%28Symbol%29/S.2001.357.En?Opendocument
(accessed 9 December 2011).

70

Gendered Asylum

Yasmine Nagaty, Mohamed Shibl
American University in Cairo

[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract:
This short extract is part of bigger research that my partner and I have been conducting on the gendered
nature of the refugee experience. On the one hand, while recent refugee literature has, under the approach
of WID (Women in Development Approach), paid more attention to the specific problems faced by women
during asylum, much of the specific experiences to women refugees remain under-researched. Moreover,
there is another gap in refugee literature that fails to accomodate the experience specific to men during
asylum. This new approach calls not only for the consideration of WID but also of GAD (Gender and Develop-
ment) approach in addressing the different gender roles expected of men and women and how these roles
are distorted through asylum.
This disucssion is especially exemplified through examining patriarchial societies and the gender roles they
allocate to men and women. Newer literature, which we make reference to in our research, pays more atten-
tion to the problems faced by both men and women once (if ever) they return to their home state. Our
research is quite specific to refugees of Sub-Saharan origin as they face the worst political and social condi-
tions. What happens to these women after they return to their having faced extensive sexual abuse? How
does their society speicifically the men in their society react to their ordeal? We will discuss the experience
of refugee women and issues specific to refugee men, such as emasculation and failure to provide for their
families while their women relatives are subjected to sexual abuse.

Paper from Yasmine Nagaty tian community3. However, while detailed studies
have been issued on the nature, causes and possible
A substantial amount of literature is dedicated to the solutions to the problem of discrimination and pro-
discourse of displaced refugees and the problems tection of refugees, rarely do these studies address
they face in countries of asylum and especially in the the status of women refugees and their experience
developing world. The largest receptacle of refugees of exile independently to those of men. While men
in the developing world today- Cairo- has recently and women refugees indeed share common prob-
been branded the “Cairo Prison” in reference to the lems inherent to the very nature of exile, an African
growing problems surrounding the presence of refu- refugee woman’s experience is radically different and
gees and their mistreatment in the urban capital1. more complex than that of the man’s. Consequently,
Large numbers of refugees, mostly of Sub-Saharan as a result of the failure to address their experi-
nationalities, struggle to survive in the urban settings ence as refugees, the problems women refugees
of Cairo without government assistance or any clear face in the Cairene urban setting are not sufficiently
policy regarding their status in the community2. Fur- addressed by the main institutional actor responsi-
ther complicating the matter is the growing appear- ble for refugee protection in Egypt- the UNHCR. Thus,
ance, over the last 10 years, of the hostility and racial this research paper attempts to provide an outline
discrimination against African refugees by the Egyp- of the role of sexuality in the persecution of African
women refugees in Egypt and furthermore, to dem-
1. Fiddian, Elena. “Relocating: The Asylum Experience in Cairo.” onstrate the ways in which the UNHCR missions and
International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 8.2 (2006): 295- certain refugee studies exclude the particular experi-
318. Web ence of women from their analysis.
2. Ghazale, Pascale. “Two Miles into Limbo Displaced Sudanese
in a Cairo Slum.” Middle East Report 225 (2002): 2-7. JSTOR. Before anything, it serves well to link the incorpo-
Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559344>. ration of women to refugee studies to the inclu-

3. Ibid

71

sion of women to development studies in general. pertaining to Africa’s refugees11.
Although development studies roots itself in the
colonial era, many have come to associate it with It is thus essential to outline the legal responsibil-
the postcolonial era since it emerged as an academic ity of the Egyptian state to protect refugees within
study after the Second World War with the end of Egypt. Although it is a signatory to the 1951 Geneva
colonial rule4. At the same time, refugees became a Convention on the Status of Refugees and the 1969
high priority on the international agenda in face of Organization of African Unity Convention, the Egyp-
the millions now displaced in the aftermath of the tian state has failed to devise any official policy
war5. The UN 1951 Convention relating to the Status regarding the status of refugees and instead leaves
of Refugees, which was amended and adopted in the task to other bodies of which the UNHCR is the
1967, had become the central feature of the inter- main one12. The UNHCR is the main executive of
national refugee protection program6. In the 1980s, the UN refugee program, whose offices and camps
when development studies had reached an impasse, stretch across 100 countries13. The function of the
the most prominent critique launched out by post- UNHCR is to determine the legal status of refugees
colonial and feminist scholars against the orthodox and grant them recognition before they can enter
development knowledge was that it was molded by a the country as asylum seekers. Lack of recognition
Western, masculine bias7. The recognition of the role not only subjects any refugee to heavy fining for
women played in development and the call for an the period they have spent in the country without a
increased inclusion of women and gender in devel- permit, it also means that of the approximately 200
opment studies trickled down onto the research on refugees arrested each year for lack of permit, many
women and gender studies in Africa specifically8. At await in Egyptian prisons without anyone realizing
the same time, the OUC Convention Governing the that they have disappeared14. Those who manage
Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa was to avoid being arrested are left under the mercy of
established and signed by 41 African states in an their employers, who usually threaten to report their
effort to pay more attention to the refugee problem illegal status if their refugee workers complain about
specifically in Africa9. In light of the OAU Convention their despicable working conditions15. The fact that
and the resurged research in the region, the “gen- the Egyptian state does not officially recognize the
dered effects of displacement and dislocation” and rights of refugees and the UNHCR does nothing to
the vulnerabilities particular to refugee women were protect those who are not granted recognition dic-
addressed as major priorities10. Countries who have tates the life of non-citizens of Egypt in general. How-
signed both treaties regarding refugee status were ever, the reason why many states such as Egypt take
central actors analyzed by these studies especially this stance towards non-citizens stems from a certain
that the state’s role in conflict-based violence against understanding of refugee status.
women was one of the central themes of the studies
This understanding is the conceptualization of the
4. Kothari, Uma, and Martin Minogue. Development Theory and refugee problem in international instruments based
Practice: Critical Perspectives. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hamp- on the assumption that a “fundamental relationship
shire: Palgrave, 2002. Print. exists between people and particular places (where)…
a given population has its own proper place, territory
5. Goodwin-Gill, Guy S. “CONVENTION RELATING TO THE
STATUS OF REFUGEES.” United Nations Audiovisual Library of 11. Ibid.
International Law (2008): 1-9. United Nations. Web. <www.
un.org/law/avl>. 12. Ghazale, Pascale. “Two Miles into Limbo Displaced Suda-
nese in a Cairo Slum.” Middle East Report 225 (2002): 2-7.
6. Ibid. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559344>.

7. Kothari, Uma, and Martin Minogue. Development Theory and
Practice: Critical Perspectives. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hamp- 13. Hyndman, Jennifer. “The Field as Here and Now, Not There
shire: Palgrave, 2002. Print. and Then.” Geographical Review 2nd ser. 91.1 (2001): 262-72.
JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3250827>.
8. Ampofo, Akosua Adomako, Josephine Beoku-Betts, Wair-
imu Ngaruiya Njambi, and Mary Osirim. “Women’s and Gender 14. Ghazale, Pascale. “Two Miles into Limbo Displaced Suda-
Studies in English-Speaking Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of nese in a Cairo Slum.” Middle East Report 225 (2002): 2-7.
Research.” Gender and Society 18.6 (2004): 685-714. JSTOR. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559344>.
Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4149390>.
15. Ibid
9. O.A.U. Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee
Problems in Africa. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Information Division,
OAU General Secretariat, 1976. Print.

10. Ibid.

72

or homeland.”16 In the African refugee regime, legis- women in Egypt is characterized by “double” discrim-
lated by the OAU Convention, “refugeehood is per- ination; these women are discriminated against and
ceived as a transitory phenomenon,” where refugees mistreated firstly based on their gender identity and
are temporarily taken in by host countries but are then again based on their skin colour. Even more det-
expected to return to their so-called homes upon the rimental to the position of these women is the fact
elimination of the factors that had led to their dis- that they are exposed to numerous accounts of rape
placement. This belief in homelands and nationalities and other forms of sexual harassment as they are
is believed to be a product of a sedentarist bias that displaced from their countries of origin. This is a fact
attempts to “fix people in native places of origin.”17 that studies on sexual harassment have tended to
On the other hand, voluntary repatriation amongst ignore, often focusing on the harassment of women
involuntarily displaced groups has raised questions with full citizenship rights21. This experience auto-
about the need for an individual or group to belong matically devalues the African woman both in her
to the “spatially bounded community” of the home- own community and in the Egyptian society, making
land and whether or not groups seeking return do the option to return home as dangerous and com-
so in an effort to overcome their “placelessness” and plex as her continued stay as a refugee. She is both
lack of cultural identity in countries of asylum18. Thus physically and socially threatened.
the belief that refugees are to eventually return to
their “home” raises concerns about their conditions Analysis of UNHCR missions in Egypt provides insight
as temporary residents in countries of asylum as well into the physical threat rape victims continue to
as the dangers risked in their return to their coun- experience while in asylum. The failure to devise
tries of origin. Both concerns have important implica- adequate physical protection to rape victims starts
tions for women in particular, whether recognized by essentially, with the UNHCR’s technical inefficiency
the UNHCR or not. Even while some women refugees to provide adequate health care and support to rape
are recognized, their particular vulnerabilities are not victims. In fact, UNHCR officials often dismiss cases
addressed by the UNHCR. It is important to analyze of rape based on the claim that because the women
the UNHCR as an actor not only because it bears the often could not recall the precise dates and sequence
responsibility of refugees in Egypt but also because of persecutory events, they were inconsistent and
it was a main actor of the United Nations Decade therefore lacked credibility22. Thus, several women
for Women (1975-1985), which sought to address exposed to sexual violence- sometimes by members
“structural discrimination against women.”19 or consular staff representing their own communi-
ties-are left vulnerable to further abuse. Other tech-
However, setting the stage for the analysis of the nical issues in the work of the UNHCR in Egypt include
vulnerabilities faced by African refugee women in insufficient or lack of training of staff as well as issues
Egypt first requires recognition of the fact that both of comprehensibility pertaining to use of unskilled
the Egyptian and the Sub-Saharan communities from interpreters23. While sexual violence against Egyp-
which these women have fled are androcentric soci- tian women is a prominent issue by itself, the type of
eties that render women’s gender identity a basis for violence incurred by refugee women is of a different
their subordination to men20. Taking this fact into con- nature. While some women experience sexual vio-
sideration, along with the eminent racial discrimina- lence for the first time during asylum, for others, it
tion against African refugees in Egypt generally, it can is often a continuation of a cycle of political persecu-
be inferred that the current status of African Refugee tion that had started in their countries of origin. For
the latter group, scholars have emphasized the need
16. Kibreab, Gaim. “Citizenship Rights and Repatriation of not to overlook their position as “apolitical victims
Refugees.” International Migration Review 37.1 (2003): 24-73.
JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/30037818>. 21. Welsh, Sandy, Jacquie Carr, Barbara McQuarrie, and Audrey
Huntley. “”I’m Not Thinking of It as Sexual Harassment”: Under-
17. Ibid standing Harassment across Race and.” Gender and Society
20.1 (2006): 87-107. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/
18. Ibid stable/27640867>.

19. Blue, Sarah A. “Including Women in Development: Gua- 22. Fiddian, Elena. “Relocating: The Asylum Experience in
temalan Refugees and Local NGOs.” Latin American Perspec- Cairo.” International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 8.2 (2006):
tives 32.5 (2005): 101-17. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/ 295-318. Web
stable/30040290>.
23. Ibid.
20. Freidman, Michelle. “Adrocentric Knowledge.” Agenda
1 (1987): 58-62. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/
stable/4547914>.

73

of sexual abuse”24 but to seek a larger understanding of exchange for the males in her family.”28 It is clear
of the ways in which women are targeted as part of then, that rape victims are no longer able to retain
organized political violence. their value based on this relegation and are thus
ostracized by their own communities for “shaming”
In her book The Blue Room: Trauma and Testimony their families29. In Egypt as in the rest of the Middle
among Refugee Women, Inger Agger provides a East, a woman’s sexual purity becomes representa-
psycho-social exploration of the exposure of refu- tive of her social purity. Because her virginity is
gee women to sexual violence within and outside the sole determinant of her social status, a woman
prison cells during times of political strife in their who loses her virginity as a result of rape becomes
countries of origin. According to Agger, the “exist- equated with a woman who does it willfully. While
ing sexual-political power structure” explains why it is indeed impossible to change the attitude of
women- especially the politically active- are promi- these communities towards the sexuality of women,
nent targets of political oppression either by a state Forbes nevertheless asserts that it is important to
or a non-state actor. She states that provide “gender-sensitive training for host country
border guards, military units and others who come
“These (women’s) bodies have a gender, and into contact with refugee and displaced women.”30
in the political technology of torture gender Moreover, given that rape victims are often reluctant
differences are exploited…the abuse in public to speak about or report their experiences due to
space outside the Cell, however, has an almost fear of exposure, another proposal is to ensure that
‘unconscious’ quality, similar to what women these women are not forced to stay for a long period
experience when they go out into the streets- of time within their camps, where they are vulnera-
into male territory.”25 ble to intra-communal or family violence31. The social
and physical protection of refugee women of and in
The quote demonstrates the need to consider the adrocentric societies complement each other, for the
sexual harassment that is particular to refugee physical and psychological effects of sexual violence
women in their experience of displacement and are equally tormenting for these women.
therefore devise a different mechanism of physi-
cal protection as well as psychological aid. Initia- In conclusion, it is apparent that there is a particular
tives for physical protection are best started in the vulnerability experienced by African refugee women
camps where many refugees reside. According to in Egypt. In light of the growing consensus regard-
Susan Forbes, author of Refugee Women, a step to ing increased involvement of women and gender in
improve the physical protection of refugee women development, the role of women’s sexuality in politi-
would be to devise measures of increased security cal persecution and the UNHCR’s responsive poli-
patrol, special accommodation for single and unac- cies ought to be altered. Further cultural specificity
companied minors and reduce access of armed per- is essential in the analysis and institutional meas-
sons to camps26. The next step is to obtain greater ures dedicated to the protection of refugee women.
awareness of the social danger these women have to While certain measures need to be devised to physi-
now face both in asylum and if they were to return cally protect refugee women from sexual violence,
to their homelands. Religious and cultural attitudes the social dimension of protection measures involves
explain this particular threat. considering the cultural norms of adrocentric socie-
ties against women who are exposed to sexual vio-
“Most refugee cultures relegate women to a submis- lence.
sive role where they are considered the property of
men.”27 For this reason, only by preserving her vir-
ginity can a woman maintain her value as “an object

24. Ibid. 28. Ibid.

25. Agger, Inger. The Blue Room: Trauma and Testimony among 29. Ibid.
Refugee Women: a Psycho-social Exploration. London: Zed,
1994. Print 30. Martin, Susan Forbes. “A Safe Refuge.” Refugee Women.
London: Zed, 1992. 16-23. Print.
26. Martin, Susan Forbes. “A Safe Refuge.” Refugee Women.
London: Zed, 1992. 16-23. Print. 31. Ibid.

27. Cole, Ellen, Oliva M. Espin, and Esther D. Rothblum. Refugee
Women and Their Mental Health: Shattered Societies, Shattered
Lives. New York: Haworth, 1992. Print.

74

Bibliography: Paper from Mohamed Shibl

Agger, Inger. The Blue Room: Trauma and Testimony among Introduction
Refugee Women: a Psycho-social Exploration. London: Zed,
1994. Print. The intersection between the three elements, class,
ethnicity and gender define power; unfortunately,
Ampofo, Akosua Adomako, Josephine Beoku-Betts, Wairimu some people lack the advantages that those elements
Ngaruiya Njambi, and Mary Osirim. "Women's and Gender could bring. Gender plays a very important role in
Studies in English-Speaking Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of the forced migrants’ journey, in which every phase
Research." Gender and Society 18.6 (2004): 685-714. JSTOR. they go through is a gendered experience. To see the
Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4149390>. relation between gender discrimination and forced
migration, the difference between gender and sex
Cole, Ellen, Oliva M. Espin, and Esther D. Rothblum. Refugee should be illustrated. Sex is the biological variation
Women and Their Mental Health: Shattered Societies, between males and females; the differences they are
Shattered Lives. New York: Haworth, 1992. Print. born with, while gender is a set of ideas constructed
by the surrounding environment and the culture
El-Bushra, Judy, and Cécile Mukarubuga. "Women, War and which define the difference between masculinity and
Transition." Gender and Development 3.3 (1995): 16-22. femininity. This essay will be divided into four parts
JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4030380>. in which gender discrimination will be illustrated the
first three parts. The paper starts by discussing the
Fiddian, Elena. "Relocating: The Asylum Experience in Cairo." pre-displacement phase in the refugees’ home coun-
International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 8.2 (2006): 295- tries, then their journey till they reach the ultimate
318. Web. destinations they seek, which are the host countries.
Finally, a conclusion at the end will emphasize on the
Freidman, Michelle. "Adrocentric Knowledge." Agenda 1 (1987): similarities between the three phases.
58-62. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/4547914>.
Pre-displacement
Ghazale, Pascale. "Two Miles into Limbo Displaced Sudanese
in a Cairo Slum." Middle East Report 225 (2002): 2-7. JSTOR. In cases or wars and tragedies, men become mobile
Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559344>. and are usually the ones who travel first as they have
control over money, and have better connections
Goodwin-Gill, Guy S. "CONVENTION RELATING TO THE STATUS and resources than women. The unlimited mobility
OF REFUGEES." United Nations Audiovisual Library of that men have makes them free and capable of trav-
International Law (2008): 1-9. United Nations. Web. <www. elling and surviving in different territories than their
un.org/law/avl>. own. The situations where they travel and leave their
women behind happen numerous times. An exam-
Hyndman, Jennifer. "The Field as Here and Now, Not There and ple of that is when the German Jews were in danger
Then." Geographical Review 2nd ser. 91.1 (2001): 262-72. from the Nazis in the 1930s and had to flee outside
JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/3250827>. Germany to seek security. Many men managed to
emigrate while most of the women and elders stayed
Kibreab, Gaim. "Citizenship Rights and Repatriation of (Marfleet, 2006: 198). In addition to that, another
Refugees." International Migration Review 37.1 (2003): 24-73. incident happened in the late 1990s in sub-Saharan
JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/30037818>. Africa in which 70 percent of the agricultural work-
force was female and many rural households were
Kothari, Uma, and Martin Minogue. Development Theory headed by women (Marfleet, 2006: 199). Unlike
and Practice: Critical Perspectives. Houndmills, Basingstoke, men, women, are “more likely to be involved in crisis
Hampshire: Palgrave, 2002. Print. of mass displacement and are less likely to have
material resources which might ease their predica-
Martin, Susan Forbes. "A Safe Refuge." Refugee Women. ment” (Marfleet, 2006: 199). This problem is com-
London: Zed, 1992. 16-23. Print. plied with fact that they are inhibited by elders, sick

O.A.U. Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee
Problems in Africa. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Information
Division, OAU General Secretariat, 1976. Print.

Welsh, Sandy, Jacquie Carr, Barbara McQuarrie, and Audrey
Huntley. ""I'm Not Thinking of It as Sexual Harassment":
Understanding Harassment across Race and." Gender and
Society 20.1 (2006): 87-107. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.jstor.
org/stable/27640867>.

Yuval-Davis, Nira. "Women, Citizenship and Difference."
Feminist Review 57 (1997): 4-27. JSTOR. Web. <http://www.
jstor.org/stable/1395799>.

75

family members, and by their children. It leaves them to serve their overall objective of "ethnic cleansing,"
with a dilemma as they cannot leave them behind, a euphemism for genocide” (Salzmann, 1998: 354). A
and it is very hard and risky to migrate while carrying plan called RAM was written by the Serb army offic-
and taking care of them. All those factors hinder their ers; commanded the Serbian army to rape women,
capabilities of travelling freely. Furthermore, in some especially children, or kill them to ethically cleanse
extreme situation when women get separated from Bosnia-Hercegovina. This plan shows how rape is
their men and become unguarded; they become used as a tactic of war, to crush people’s desire to
vulnerable and start wandering in the streets look- battle (Salzmann, 1998:362). However, the pleas-
ing for shelter. An example of that can be seen in ure of stripping people from their dignity and watch
Somalia, where women are traditionally “assigned a them get humiliated seems to be a practiced on
status inferior to men, who take the dominant roles males as well. An example of that is what happened
in society, religion and politics” (El-Bushra, 2004: 9). in Iraq where women abused male detainees at Abu
Women are responsible for domestic jobs and are Gharib prison. Some of the devastating, inhumane
expected to stay in their houses and are very obedi- pictures were released. One of the pictures was of
ent and dependent on their men. They barely have Pfc. Lynndie England holding “a leash attached to the
civil liberties as they are not even allowed to walk neck of a naked Iraqi prisoner” (Wakeman, 2004).
in the streets unescorted by their men (Ellis, Klunk- Another picture was of “Spc. Sabrina Harman with
Gillis, Lincoln, Cabral, 2010: 5). When men leave a broad grin and thumbs-up sign standing behind a
women who are dependent on them by that extent, pyramid of naked, hooded males” (Wakeman, 2004).
they become more viable to violation. It is not surprising that women were also treated as
spoils of war; almost all of the female detainees were
Enemies use ethnic cleansing to remove an ethnic threatened by rape and many women were interro-
group by force or by intimidation or via genocide gated naked and “subjected to derision and humiliat-
which is destroying in part or in whole a national or ing remarks by soldiers” (Rosen, 2006).
religious or ethical group. Since women are key fig-
ures in families and pass on their knowledge, beliefs, Those are just minor examples of the traumatic situ-
culture and traditions to their children, they open ations that happen in the pre-displacement phase.
up new communities. That is one of the reasons of The people who live in those brutal environments get
why they are used as “weapons of war” (Salzmann, encouraged people to leave their home countries,
1998: 362). Opponents kill or sexually abuse them to and sometimes families to find sanctuary and peace
avoid formation of new generations. In addition to elsewhere. The refugees hope to start over, so they
that, sexual assault towards women of the occupied start traveling. Questions about their survival and
countries is used to torture women, their husbands, about the gender discrimination they face while trav-
their children and their families. The opponents rape elling start to rise. Is their trip worth having a 50 per-
and kill the women in front of their loved ones to cent chance of survival? Are women and men treated
make them feel the pain of helplessly watching their with dignity on their way to their destination? Is the
women get physically violated without being capa- journey a gendered experience as well? The answers
ble of defending. It has been proven that this form to those questions will be clear in the next part of
of rape is not about sex, but about abusing power. the paper.
For instance, a document was released on the former
Yugoslavia by the former special Rapporteur for the The Journey
United Nations Commission, Tadeusz Mazowiecki,
states that “an abuse of power and control in which When refugees travel towards their destinations,
the rapist seeks to humiliate, shame, embarrass, they come across gendered experiences. As men-
degrade, and terrify the victim. The primary objec- tioned earlier, many women are vulnerable and
tive is to exercise power and control over another dependant on men; when they are forced to migrate
person" (Falcon, 2001: 31). The abuser gets pleasure on their own without their men, everything becomes
and satisfaction by watching others go through pain. more chaotic that it already was. Women get forced
to act as leaders to reach their destination as they
Ethnic cleansing became a byproduct of wars, an have no other way; the lack of leadership experience
example of that is what happened in Serbia, as the of the defenseless women put them in tough situ-
“Serbian governmental and military powers appear ations. Most of those women travel while carrying
to have utilized systematic rape as a weapon of war their children, and escorting elders and other family

76

members. With the sudden increase in responsibili- fleet, 2006: 20) and domestic violence. According to
ties and vulnerability, people who have more power, Olujic (1995: 63), the majority of female victims die,
authority and control take advantage of women “either from gunshots, bleeding as a consequence
while they cross border zones and while they stay in of gang rape, or by suicide motivated by shame.”
camps to reach the journey’s end. An example of that is what happens in Burundian
where women are viewed as inferior to men and are
According to Philip Marfleet (2006: 201), “there have either raped several times or killed. One of the inci-
been more and more vigorous attempts to discour- dents that occurred was exposed by Human Rights
age or to prevent displaced people crossing territo- Watch when the Burundian refugees’ circumstances
rial borders.” As previously mentioned, rape is a sign in Tanzania camps were investigated. The investiga-
of war; thus, militarization indicates that war prevails tion recorded “all manner of abuse, including cases
(Falcon 2001:31). That is why rape is used as one of of mass rape” (Marfleet, 2006: 209). Segregation and
the attempts to constrain refugees’ ability to cross abusing power in those camps lead to frustration as
borders. There are three different types of rape used the people who are meant to protect women are the
on the border zones; the “National security rape” perpetrators. (Swiss)
which is used as a tool to help maintain a nervous
state, the “recreational rape” which is the outcomes Host Countries
of the insufficient supply of militarized prostitution
to male soldiers, and the “Systematic mass rape” When refugees finally reach their destination, which
which is used to indicate warfare (Falcon, 2001:33). It in other words is “the end-point;” the journey of seg-
is argued that those three types are exercised in the regation and rape still continues. At the host countries
American-Mexican border where rape at the border women become stronger more innovative than men.
is almost inescapable to the point that women take Women have the tendency of finding jobs easier as
contraceptives on their journey, to avoid getting they are more malleable and accept low paying jobs.
pregnant during rape (Falcon, 2001: 36). Since those Innovation comes after displacement takes place as
women are illegally travelling under the immigration by accepting low paying jobs. They then start earning
law, they rarely report rape as they fear getting sent money; thus providing funds to protect themselves
back to their home countries. Moreover, they tend and their families. The reason why they do not mind
to talk about rape experiences of others rather than taking low paying jobs is because they have got noth-
themselves. Mazowiecki argues that this is due to ing to lose as they started off by nothing. Therefore,
the fact that in many countries it is considered a sign low paying jobs are considered their “rites of pas-
of shame and as they fear “reprisal”, which leaves the sage” to improvement and settlement. This is when
raped women no option other than living with the they become stronger as they accumulate the lead-
intense stigma and lost honor. That is why the stat- ership skills they attained during their journey with
ics of raped women on the borders are nonexistent the power and authority they start gaining by being
because. (Falcon, 2001: 45). That shows how rape the breadwinners. Men, on the other hand, start
that is used as a power against women, affects them losing their power and become emasculated. Accord-
to the point that makes them silent about it. ing to Indra (2003: 233), some of the male refugees
who were occupied in “highly prestigious govern-
Rape seems to be inevitable during all the phases ment, bureaucratic, and professional positions, now
of displacement. Before refugees reach the border- face unemployment” and are dependent on welfare
lines, they temporarily settle at camps to seek tem- and on their wives. This is due to the fact that men
porary shelter. According to Indra (2003: 91), those rarely compromise to lower level jobs as they cannot
camps are sometimes considered as homes to refu- endure the humiliation of working lower status jobs.
gees. However, those “home-camps” are also con-
sidered “rape-camps.” Camps are usually set and The assumptions of men and women’s roles do not
looked after by people who have authorities. For depend on gender and sex differences, but rely on
instance, police, magistrate, camp commanders, Social and cultural expectations as they define the
security, UNHCR and MHA protection officers, etc. behavior of men and women (El-Bushra, 2004: 13).
Those people with authority are usually men, and That is why changes in family power structures result
sadly, most of them take advantage of women as in violence; the Sudanese refugees in Cairo set a
“the conditions in camps may make women particu- good example for that. Men in Sudan are considered
larly vulnerable, especially to sexual violence,” (Mar- to be the wage earners; women on the other hand,

77

have few activities to do such as food processing, their bosses that if they do not follow orders, sexual
making clothes, and coping with housework, child- orders or over working orders, they will report them,
care and subsistence of food (Ghandruk, 2004: 20). thus they will be deported. An example of that is
The responsibilities of men and women change when what happens to female Sudanese refugees in Egypt.
they arrive to Egypt. Even though refugees have the Due to women’s flexibility in working, they usually
legitimate right to work in Egypt, they rarely find jobs work as housemaids for Egyptian families. However,
in the formal economy. By being Egyptian and having sometimes they are too flexible to the point that
lived there for nineteen years straight, I could tell, they could “resort to prostitution and illegal brewing
finding a job in Egypt in the formal sector is almost of alcohol” (Currie, 2007: 73). Some of the Sudanese
impossible, even for Egyptians; it usually needs con- women who work for some Egyptians are beaten up,
nections that refugees usually lack. Therefore, to raped and thrown from balconies, and then Egyptian
gain money, women become innovative and accept families would claim they committed suicide (Currie,
jobs in the informal economy as maids, cooks and 2007:74). The Sudanese refugees in Egypt do not just
nannies while their men stay at home and take care get rapped while working as maids as they also get
of the children. That switch in roles makes men suffer rapped at random occasions. One of the very furi-
in multiple ways as they find themselves no longer ous incidents that happened in Egypt was about
the heads of their families or the wage earners which Sudanese refugee who was alone in Cairo with her
makes them incapable of supporting their families or children. One day she locked her children at home
enduring the humiliation of being supported by their and went to work, two Egyptians came and sent the
wives. That form of emasculation makes violence the brother to get them something while they rapped
only form of legitimate power they can achieve. This the eight year old child. When the mother came back
is ironic as many of these young men were victims of and found her daughter rapped, she could not go to
violence in their home country and came to Cairo to the police as she was afraid she would get deported
find peace and sanctuary, but instead, they became or thrown in prison as she was illegal. Furthermore,
viewed as “causes of violence.” One of the male refu- when the Sudanese who turn to prostitution and
gees I was working with this summer at Town House brewing illegal alcohol to make a living get caught,
Galley in Cairo said to me32 “Here, we are not subject most of the Egyptian police ask for sexual favors or
to physical death by war, or by other tribes, but we for tips, or else they will take them to prison (Currie,
are subject to emotional death.” That shows how the 2007:84). Pre-marital sex and pregnancy are con-
major shift in roles causes emotional distress which sidered to be shameful in South Sudan; according
ultimately leads to family problems and violence fro. to many interviews, the rates of pre-marital sex and
According to Marmar and Meffert (2009: 1841), that pregnancy happens more in Egypt than in Sudan.
shift makes the family collapse which reflects nega- That shows how defenseless refugees sometimes
tively on the children. A Sudanese refugee said in an suffer more in host countries than in home countries
interview held by Marmar and Meffert that he is not as they are put in brutal situations in which malicious
doing his “mandate as a father, not enough time and authorities abuse their power.
not enough money,” and he “cannot sleep and keeps
thinking according to how to provide.” That feeling Moreover, since “refugees are perceived as a prob-
of helplessness makes refugees turn to violence, as lematic and threatening category of migrant” and
it is the only source of power they could attain; one are regarded by governments as disorderly and as
of the refugees in Meffert’s book admitted that they threatening (Marfleet, 2006: 200), getting the refu-
used to get knives to protect themselves from Egyp- gee status is difficult. Also, women are less pre-
tians, but now they use those knives against each ferred when it comes to categorizing them as legal
other. (Marmar and Meffert, 2009: 1843) refugees. According to Jolly and Reeves (2005: 36), a
refugee is a person with a fear of persecution on the
Moreover, refugees are physically taken advantage of grounds of race, religion, nationality, political opin-
in the host countries as well. Many of the refugees ion or membership in a particular social group. Jolly
who fail to get their refugee status become illegal and Reeves argue that violations of women’s funda-
in the company they reside in. That is used against mental human rights should be a category defining
them, as in some situations they are threatened by refugees. They call the discrimination that happens
in seeking the refugee status “gender asylum.” The
32. Personal Experience with Sudanese Refugees at 2009 in UNHCR realized the obstacles that women face to
Cairo gain protection and they started issuing guidelines

78

in 1985 to make countries understand the definition Available at: http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/reports/CEP-Mig-
of refugees in a gender sensitive context; as a result OR.pdf
the US issued its own set of guideline in 1995 to pro- Marfleet, P. (2006) Refugees in a Global Era. Basingstoke:
tect women. However, the question is, does the law Palgrave.
really protect women? Shortly after those guidelines Meffert, S. and Marmar, C.(2009). Darfur Refugees in Cairo.
were issued, a case about a woman named Fauziya Journal of interpersonal violence. Volume 24, Issue 11.
Kasinga seeking security in the US from a forced Olujic, M. (1995) ‘Women, Rape, and War:’ The Continued
polygamous marriage and female genital cutting in Trauma of Refugees and Displaced Persons in Croatia. Scholar
Togo, shakes the solidarity of the US’s guidelines. The works [Online]. Available at: http://www.scholarworks.iu.edu/
immigration judge denied her the status and harshly journals/index.php/aeer/article/viewFile/721/814
said "well, what you're fleeing is female genital cut- Rosen, R. (2006) The Hidden War on Women in Iraq. Available
ting and that's something that is a norm in your soci- at: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0713-33.htm
ety. It's not persecution; it's not on account of one Salzman, T (1998). Rape Camps as a Means of Ethnic Cleansing:
of the five grounds. So I don't protection." (Jolly and Religious, Cultural, and Ethical Responses to Rape Victims in
Reeves, 2005: 48) After this story went public and the Former Yugoslavia. The Johns Hopkins University Pres
many people were shocked by the incident, they Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 2 (May, 1998), pp.
then, finally accepted her. This was the first gender 348-378 [Online]. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/
asylum case in the US to be accepted. pdfplus/762769.pdf
Social Institutions and Gender Index. [Online]. Available at:
Conclusion http://genderindex.org/country/somalia
Swiss, S. (1994) News Briefing War-Zone Rapes Being
In conclusion, as you can see from the paper, every Documented. Available at: http://www.lexisnexis.com.library.
single phase is a gendered experience. Many rights aucegypt.edu:2048/hottopics/lnacademic/?shr=t&csi=30383
should be given to women seeking asylum to protect 0&sr=HLEAD(NEWS+BRIEFING+War-zone+rapes+being+docu
them, as mentioned earlier, it is only recently that mented)+and+date+is+July,%201994
women started gaining recognition, so hopefully, Wakeman, C.(2004). Women and Abuse in Iraq. ZNET, June 02,
over the coming years, the rates of rape and other 2004. [Online] Available at: http://www.zcommunications.
sources of abutment would decrease. org/women-and-abuse-in-iraq-by-carolyn-wakeman

Bibliography:
Bushra, J. and Gardner J. (2004). Somalia the Untold Story: The

War Through the Eyes of Somali Women. London: Pluto Press.
Cervenak, C. (1994) Promoting Inequality: Gender-Based

Discrimination in UNRWA's Approach to Palestine Refugee
Status. JSTOR [Online]. Available at: http://www.jstor.org.
library.aucegypt.edu:2048/stable/762449?seq=1
Currie, L. (2007). ‘Who Can Be Added: The Effects of Refugee
Status Determination and Third Country Resettlement
Processes on the Marriage Strategies, Rites, and Customs
of the Southern Sudanese in Cairo’. Canada’s Periodical on
Refugees, 24(1), [Online]. Available at: http://pi.library.yorku.
ca/ojs/index.php/refuge/article/view/21369/0
Falcon, S. (2001) ‘Rape as a Weapon of War: Advancing Human
Rights for Women at the U.S.-Mexico Border’. Social Justice,
28, [Online]. Available at: http://mitotedigital.org/mcallahan/
pdfs/Falcon-Rape-Border-Militarization.pdf
Gurung, M. (2004). Women and Development in the Third World.
WWF Nepal Program Office. [Online] Available at: http://
assets.panda.org/downloads/women_and_development_in_
the_third_world.pdf
Indra, D. (2003). Engendering Forced Migration. Berghahn
Books.
Jolly, S. and Reeves, H.(2005) Gender & Migration. Bridge.

79

What is the role of social movements as one actor in democratic consolidation?
The case of Chile.

Zac Bull
University of East London
[email protected]

Abstract:
With the rise and completion of the ‘third wave’ of Latin American democratisation at the end of the twenti-
eth century social movement theorists optimistically predicted a rise in activity amongst social movements.
Believing that organised activity amongst the population would not only consolidate transitions to democ-
racy across the region, theorists argued that it would also encourage more profound, established and suc-
cesful liberal democracies. Democratic transitions throughout Latin America show dominant examples of the
role that social and popular movements played in encouraging transitions to democracy, yet little literature
exists on the role that these same movements played in the consolidation periods that followed. Chile is a
significant case in point, whilst much evidence exists on the role of movements in encouraging the beginning
of the transition during the protests of 1983, little is documented on their importance throughout the stages
post-transition
This dissertation will discuss the role of social movements as actors in democratic consolidation, using the
democratisation of Chile as an example of the findings.

The ‘third wave’ of democratisation that swept across gaps exist, and whether or not social movements do
Latin America towards the end of the twentieth cen- have a role as actors in democratic consolidation.
tury prompted an optimistic prediction in the rise of
popular activity (Valenzuela, 1989; Hipscher, 1996). Social movements demobilisation in post-transitional
Observers believed that social movements would settings.
deepen the democratisation process by “pressing
for more profound political, economic, and social Charles Tilly (1978) defines demobilisation as the
reforms” (Hipscher, 1996, p.273). In reality the oppo- process by which a group of active participants
site occurred, and the demobilisation of social move- becomes a passive collection of individuals. Whilst
ments has become a subject of considerable discus- this is a clear definition of the physical shift in status,
sion, creating a paradoxical situation for theorists; Hipscher (1996) argues that demobilisation is more a
why, in a time when political openness and freedom strategic response to changes in political opportunity
of expression should be encouraged, did movements and attitudes towards the desirability of democracy.
demobilise? This poses questions on the future of In post-transitional settings, the change in value that
social movements, as well as the effects that demo- social movements become for emerging govern-
bilisation can have on emerging democracies. ments and their use in conflict resolution are appar-
ent. Many states, even those that actively supported
Demobilisation is a subject still under discussion; pri- social movement activity, and defined democracy
marily as examples appear to continuously contra- based on the level of grassroots participation; saw
dict one another. Brazil, although at a lesser capacity, the benefits of a more limited democracy after the
has shown that social movements play a fundamen- removal of authoritarian rule. The institutionalisation
tal role in the democratic consolidation of a state of social movement politics also has a fundamental
emerging from authoritarian rule (Escobar and Alva- effect on mobilisation. Institutionalisation regards
rez (eds), 1992). In Chile, the level of mobilisation the process of a shift in tactics, from tactics of social
amongst social movements, during both the authori- mobilisation to the use of more ‘conventional’ chan-
tarian regime and subsequent transitional period, nels of conflict resolution (Hipscher, 1996; McAdam,
encouraged theorists (Valenzuela, 1989; Hipscher, 1983). Both definitions show that demobilisation is
1996). However studies on movements in post-tran- a response to political changes and surroundings,
sitional Chile follow much in the same path as in the as well as new opportunities for political expres-
rest of the region, prompting questions on why such sion. Hipscher’s definition deduces that demobili-

80

sation in post-transitional settings is a response to (Shain and Linz (eds), 1995). Jilberto (1993) argues
the changes that comes with a transition. However that civil participation is fundamental to the restruc-
Tarrow (1989) argues that social protest is not a con- turing of authorities at both local and national levels.
stant but dependent on political opportunities avail- By restructuring local power social movements
able, meaning demobilisation is part of the cycle of are exercising one of their most powerful tools for
protest. This suggests that regardless of democratic breaking away from authoritarian rule. Local munici-
transitions, social movement demobilisation occurs pal reform and the “establishment of communal or
naturally, affecting all movements eventually. This regional governments” (Jilberto, 1993, p.14) outline
implies two things, firstly that movements partly exist a political ability of grassroots movements. There-
on the basis of necessity, and secondly, when political fore movements have two major roles in transitions,
institutions are divided, weak or non-existent move- firstly as instigators of change and secondly as a base
ments are more likely to mobilise (Piven and Cloward, for newly formed systems.
1979). Demobilisation will understandably be unique
to the state and movements in questions, with many Clearly movements have legitimate potential in
factors building its personality. Analysing the state beginning the transition to democracy; however
of movements in democratic consolidation will not this potential is predominantly determined by the
give a foregone conclusion on the role in which they conditions in place pre-transition. The civil vote, for
can play, yet understanding the state of movements example, is not a necessity for authoritarian govern-
during the transition itself may give a clearer view of ments, only conformity with their policies; therefore
their potential in latter stages of democratisation. any challenging creates a negative inducement, a
cost, which an authoritarian regime will inevitably
Social movements as actors in democratic transitions want to avoid, these challenges are usually through
unconventional action (Oberschall, 2000, p.30).
When addressing democratic transitions there is a Unconventional action is a tool which social move-
risk of concentrating too much on politics in the sense ments are able to use to highlight the failings of the
of party and electoral struggles, thus ignoring the dis- regime (Tarrow, 1989, pp.7-8), and is a visible denial
placement of individuals into a wider arena of move- of its legitimacy, which can in turn bring international
ments (Crouch, 2004, p.15). Through movements liability to the regime. This would suggest that the
individuals are capable of expressing their political same can apply in post-transitional settings, where
preferences, and joining them provides the benefit social movements can act as indicators of democratic
of flexibility, enabling the choice of “highly specific failures (Crouch, 2004, p.15).
causes, whereas working through a party requires
us to accept a whole package” (Crouch, 2004, p.15). The role for movements in working or negotiating
Suggesting that during consolidation, when politics with authoritarian regimes in easing a transition of
are at their most open and empathetic, social move- power should also be a considered. Utilising uncon-
ments are major proponents in shaping the future. ventional action further and adopting it to negotiate
Yet, as shown, demobilisation is a common feature with authoritarian regimes, initially as a bargaining
in post-transitional settings. Theorists on demobili- tool for complying to certain aspects of the regime,
sation all agree that during a transition social move- eventually enabling movements to relinquish some
ment activity is high. So to analyse the role that social control from the authoritarian power (Oberschall,
movements can play in democratic consolidation it is 2000, p.30-31). An exit strategy, a particularly pow-
important to understand their role as actors in transi- erful tool, is something movements can play a role
tions to democracy. in by ensuring that members of the regime can be
guaranteed of “maintaining high and rewarding posi-
Mobilisation is the most fundamental and effective tion in the emerging democracy” (Oberschall, 2000,
power that social movements have in tackling areas p.25). Whilst creating a smoother transition, move-
of democratic failures and instigating transitions to ments also gain the ability to dictate the terms of the
democracy (Escobar and Alvarez (eds), 1992). Social transition. Thus social movements can become vehi-
movements can therefore become based on the cles for opposing authoritarian regimes, acting as the
demands of the civil society that they represent, usu- physical representative of democratic parties
ally through regional or issue affiliations (Escobar and
Alvarez (eds), 1992, p.299), which can develop into Clearly the capabilities of movements in both fighting
a form of civilian leadership, such as seen in Brazil against authoritarian regimes as well as being able to

81

counter the tactics used in aim of suppressing them modern democratic politics, the period was domi-
are influential; it is here that the paradox occurs nated by ideological conflicts, initially between con-
(Hipscher, 1996; Valenzuela, 1990). The potential of servative and liberal parties and later between radi-
social movements in inducing a transition is clear, yet cal and democratic parties (Garretón, 2003 and Linz
not on their potential in stabilising the democracy. and Stepan, 1996).
Raising questions not only on demobilisation, but
opening discussion on social movement’s potential Industrialisation and urbanisation early in the twen-
in democratic consolidation. tieth century generated new social cleavages in the
country and led to representation for the newly
Democracy in Chile emerging middle and working classes, which began
to exert political pressure and demand protection of
Democratisation is clearly variable, and one state’s their interests. This brought new parties to the politi-
attempt is often substantially different from another. cal arena, i.e. the Communist Party in 1922, Socialist
Whilst definitions can be universally attributed, the Party in 1933, and the National Falange in 1935. The
need for individual analysis first requires attention on remaining years of the nineteenth century saw many
the events which compelled it (Ostrom, 1986; 1998; military interventions, especially between 1920 and
Collier and Levitsky, 1997). In the case of Chile, this 1932, and from the 1930s through to the coup of
means addressing the political history, setting the 1973 Chile saw a varied selection of different govern-
background for analysing it’s undertaking of demo- ments.
cratic consolidation (Schedler, 1998; Collier and Lev-
itsky, 1997). Pinochet’s coup ushered in a military regime charac-
terised by three main traits (Garretón, 2003, p.118).
Chilean politics is inevitably dominated by memories Firstly, the legal political power combined the increas-
of Pinochet’s authoritarian era and the military coup ingly personalised political-military leadership of
which ended Salvador Allende’s leadership of Chile’s Pinochet with the authority of the armed forces. The
socialist government on September 11th, 1973. The different departments of the government were sub-
attack on La Moneda Palace, a testimony to 130 ordinated to the army, of which Pinochet controlled.
years of Chilean democracy, marked the beginning Secondly, the regime attempted a dismantling of the
of General Augusto Pinochet’s authoritarian reign previous society alongside a rearticulating of state
over Chile. A further decade of military-ruled con- and society. A new model of capitalist organisation
ditions were imposed on a divided state, until, ten and a reinsertion into the world economy followed,
years later, the populace erupted in mass protest, characterised by the “transposition of market prin-
causing Pinochet to declare a state of siege (Con- ciples to the most varied arenas of social life” (Gar-
stable and Valenzuela, 1991). However, despite the retón, 2003, p.118). Thus, the military regime struc-
dominance of Pinochet’s era in the history of Chilean tured a plan to form a new world order, this was
politics, Chile boasted 150 years of stable democratic materialised politically in the constitution imposed
rule, with a culture of austere, enlightened civility in the 1980 plebiscite. The constitution guaranteed a
and regimes that range across the political spectrum military regime for fifteen years and an authoritarian
(Garretón, 2003: Constable and Valenzuela, 1991). regime, from 1989, of an indefinite duration.

Chile, like its southern cone neighbours Argentina The regime would grant governing power to the
and Paraguay, achieved independence from Europe armed forces, but would be mostly civilian, there-
slightly earlier than the rest of Latin America. The fore restricting a political arena and excluding certain
first governing junta independent from Spain was social relations, meaning the regime became a form
formed in 1810. Unlike many of its neighbours, Chile of social organisation, guaranteeing Pinochet another
succeeded in establishing a stable political system eight years of rule. Leading importantly into the third
after independence, embodied in the constitutions trait, that of suppression. The regime worked to
of 1833. Early on, governments were shaped largely remove the opportunity for social/civil participation
by the conservative aristocracy as a republican state within the government; it also worked to suppress
with a strong president. This began to change and social, cultural and political expression outside. The
towards the end of the 19th century several liberal dictatorship did not absorb its society, and whilst the
reforms were introduced, inducing a parliamentary- voices of the opposition were quelled, and had no
like government (up to 1925). Despite introducing formal representation in government, they were not

82

completely restricted (Linz and Stepan, 1996; Garre- nificantly against a transition. To them, the transition
ton, 2003). signified the instatement of a presidential elect, and
the policies regarding the economy that the Concert-
The analysis of Chile’s authoritarian regime allows for ación proposed, meaning it was more beneficial for
clearer understanding of the transition that followed, them to be governed by Pinochet. Second, the social
and subsequently the democratic consolidation that movements, which represented much of the voice of
was required afterwards. Addressing the role that the opposition, were from predominantly working
social movements played in Chile’s transition will set class backgrounds (Escobar and Alvarez (eds), 1992;
the scene for their role in the democratic consolida- Schneider, 1995a), the shantytowns (Poblaciones)
tion (Ostrom, 1986; Schedler, 1998; Collier and Lev- throughout the country therefore became a mobili-
itsky, 1997). sation centre for much of the radical opposition to
the authoritarian regime.
The Chilean democratic transition
Pinochet recognised the threat of civil mobilisation
Transitions to democracy are longer adequately and the coalition was exactly what he had aimed to
defined as a switch from authoritarian to democratic suppress. Mobilisation formed part of the only way
rule. Examination should be complemented with that the opposition could take advantage of “the one
specific identification of both the regimes preceding possible vulnerability in Pinochet’s own constitution”
the transition and the “different types of democracy (Linz and Stepan, 1996, p.206). In 1980, Pinochet con-
that emerge from distinctive modes of regime transi- structed an authoritarian constitution and submitted
tion as well of their potential political, economic, and it to a plebiscite. Most traditional right movements
social consequences” (Linz and Stepan, 1996, p.205). and business groups campaigned for ratification of
It is important to address the transition to gauge the the constitution (though the voting procedures were
standard of democracy, and therefore the need for quite flawed) and, after a further plebiscite, the
consolidation that followed. ¬ constitution stood. It called for a follow-up in 1988,
which, if won, would put the elected in power for
The definition of a transition can be attributed to another 8 years. Pinochet, as the nominee received
three main factors. Firstly, a transition is complete 44% of the votes, not the 50.1% needed for another
when sufficient agreement has been reached about 8 years of presidency. This set the basis for the “1989
political procedures to produce an elected govern- presidential election and the 1990 transfer of power”
ment. Second, when a government comes to power (Linz and Stepan, 1996, p.206)
it must be a direct result of free and popular vote. The
final step is complete when the government de facto However this also set the framework for an extremely
has authority to generate new policies, and when the constrained transition, and one of the most democrat-
executive, legislative and judicial power generated by ically ‘disloyal’ transfers of power in Latin America,
the new democracy “does not have to share power due to the constraints that Pinochet’s government
with other bodies de jure” (Linz and Stepan, 1996, had placed for incoming government, by agreeing to
p.3). “rule with an authoritarian constitution crafted by
an outgoing regime” (Linz and Stepan, 1996, p.206).
Chile’s transition was fraught with conflict, the oppo- This shows Pinochet’s continued influence as the
sition; a coalition (Concertación) of Centre-Left par- Concertación began their rule with the 1980 consti-
ties led by the elected leader Patricio Aylwin entered tution (formulated by Pinochet and his party), with
the transition from a weaker position than that of the partial amendments in 1989. The new government
military (Schneider, 1995a). The transition was deeply tried to eliminate the authoritarian features in the
hampered by the lack of support for the Concert- constitution but were faced with the complicated
ación by the Chilean bourgeoisie who, through the amendment procedures stipulated in the constitu-
1980s, were willing to abandon any pretence of day- tion itself. Demonstrating a common feature of tran-
to-day political leadership in return for the military’s sitions in the impact authoritarian features can have
“defensive” project against the left. Motivated by the on the political freedom of a new government, Pino-
credible foundational project the military conducted chet’s grip demonstrates the extremity of the Chilean
in the economy. This shows two things: firstly that transition.
the desire for a transition was by no means a national
consensus, those with self-invested interests in the Once the transition of power was completed, the
market model that Pinochet had imposed were sig-

83

inauguration of President Aylwin was accompanied The protests that sparked the siege initiated the long
with a speech outlining the goals of the incoming struggle towards achieving the right to hold a demo-
government. The main focus would be dealing with cratic election. The focus switched from attempting
past human rights violations and paying back the to work alongside or influence the regime, which
‘social debt’ accumulated by the economic poli- became unfeasible under Pinochet due to consti-
cies of the authoritarian regime (Barahona de Brito, tutional laws, to simply enforcing ‘democracy now’
1997). Therefore an overriding theme would be of (Schneider, 1995a, p.191). The battle that continued
national reconciliation (Linz and Stepan, 1996). Pino- until October 7th 1988 when, as one Chilean sociolo-
chet remained a key figure in Chilean politics. Due gist observed, the movements had changed the face
to institutional laws that he had passed during his of society, meaning the population could overcome
presidency, he remained head of the army until his the fear imposed on them by the regime, thus reveal-
retirement on 10th March 1998. During this period ing the military’s “failure to dissolve collectives iden-
he had a major impact on civil-military relations, tities and inhibit collective action, and reintroduce
and showed his continual influence to extract con- political space for society” (O’Donnell et al (eds),
cessions from civil policy makers to protect his col- 1986, p.270).
leagues from human rights abuse allegations made
during the regimes period of power. Article 45, It is clear that the restrictions of the authoritarian
another law passed by Pinochet, meant he assumed government encouraged clandestine activity. Pobla-
the position of ‘Senator for Life’ (Senador Vitalico) ciones throughout the country became regular hot-
upon retirement. The position was based on the law spots for the mobilisation of grassroots movements,
passed in the 1980 constitution that any president, and the high unemployment rate meant a steady
having served six plus years, was entitled to a lifetime flow of participants. This meant continued pressure
seat in the senate (Weeks, 2000). on the regime, the bourgeoisie and political right,
whilst also offering support for the left movements
The transition had seen different obstacles, many and parties (Schneider, 1995a, p.194).
of which were unique to Chile and not witnessed by
its Latin American neighbours, this exemplifies the Chilean democracy varied drastically over the last
need for individual analysis. The role of civil society century, and the authoritarian regime brought
in instigating and sustaining the transition forms a democracy to an abrupt halt. Actors in both the polit-
key part of how the transition began. Some of the ical and civilian spheres faced a continually restricted
most notable actors in civil society are social move- battle to achieve the transition. Whilst the transition
ments (Tarrow, 1994). Pinochet’s reign significantly itself has become a focus of continual debate, what
hampered civil mobility, meaning that “in only one is clear is that democracy in Chile was in need of con-
of the four authoritarian states in the southern cone, tinual consolidation, and the actors that have played
namely, Chile, did state power grow while the power parts up in the transition would still appear to be sig-
of civil society declined” (Evans et al (eds), 1985, nificantly required.
p.319). This opens questions of the same move-
ment’s roles during the transition. On The Study of Democratisation

The transition in Chile was not simply a political The removal of Pinochet’s government prompted
effort. The aforementioned state of siege announced the beginning of the long arduous task of democratic
by Pinochet was on the back of a “cycle of protests consolidation. Mainwaring et al (1996, p.17) refer
that began on May 11, 1983, [and] ended abruptly to democratic consolidation as the transition from
in a shower of gun fire on September 7, 1986” (Sch- a democratic government, to a democratic regime.
neider, 1995a, p.191). The social movements acted However, democratic consolidation is a concept
in direct reaction to Pinochet and his establishment, which, over time, has become consistently shrouded
the system in place was no longer tolerable. Tarrow in confusion as it has spread through the academic
(1989, pp.7-8) once stated that the power of social and political world (Schedler, 1998). The need for
movements lays neither in its numbers, nor its pen- clarification on the subject is a point made in much of
chant for violence, but it its ability to smash through the literature as the conceptual disorder which has
the boundaries of the accepted limits of social behav- been placed on the subject can act as a barrier to
iour. This is precisely what the movements in Chile the accumulation of knowledge, theory building, and
did. understanding of key terms (Ostrom, 1986; Schedler,

84

1998; Collier and Levitsky, 1997). racy equate democratic consolidation with complet-
ing democracy, with supplying its missing features”
Democratic consolidation is a subject which, accord- (Shedler, 1998, p.93). Some theorists warn that such
ing to Schedler (1998), has become over-used. analysis can become too emotive (O’Donnell, 1996,
Attempting to explain many different types of democ- p.37; Schneider, 1995b, p.215), Schedler (1998, p.94)
ratisation and include variables as diverse as judicial argues that this is not always negative, but agrees it
reform and the alleviation of poverty has meant is not always productive.
definitions are not always universal. This has compli-
cated analysis. However, Schedler argues that com- Once the goals have been set for an emerging democ-
prehension is possible by addressing the key points. racy, consolidation can be addressed. As mentioned
Originally the term referred to the “challenges of in Schedler’s definition, all new democracies risk a
making new democracies secure, of extending their ‘reverse wave’ of authoritarianism. Securing a shift
life expectancy beyond short term, of making them of a state’s core institutions to democratic ruling is
immune against threat of authoritarian aggressions, a fundamental concern of democrats, primarily to
of building dams against eventual ‘reverse waves’” secure what they have achieved, but also to pro-
(Schedler, 1998, p.91). This definition is still the basis tect itself when most vulnerable (Schedler, 1998).
of which, despite modern adaptations, consolidation For democratisation actors, this entails reducing
can be assessed, and is the definition that will be the probability of a breakdown so that they can be
used in this paper when addressing democratic con- assured that democracy will persist in the immediate
solidation (Schedler, 1998). The meaning we ascribe and distant future. Therefore the first task of consoli-
to democratic consolidation is reliant on where we dation is the removal of all opposing the emergence
stand and where we aim to reach, or as Schedler of a democratically ruling government. Latin America
(1998) puts it, our empirical viewpoints and our nor- is an excellent example of this. The economical ben-
mative horizons, variables depend on the context efits during the authoritarian regime for upper class
and goals of the consolidation. elites would be considered as a barrier to consolida-
tion. It can also include the general populace; having
Before analysing the consolidation needed it is clearly become disenfranchised by the government in
imperative to establish the democracy in place post- power, can demonstrate their frustration and cause
transition. Alongside Robert Dahl’s definition of lib- further barriers to consolidation. The theoretical lit-
eral democracies, Schedler (1998) argues that two erature has shown that individual analysis is impera-
other subtypes of democracy have gained recogni- tive for effective analysis, yet fundamental aspects
tion and should be considered. Firstly, the ‘border- exist which, if applied to Chile, will allow for dissec-
line’ examples that possess some, not necessarily all, tion of the type of consolidation required (Ostrom,
of a liberal democracy’s qualities, and therefore fall 1986; Schedler, 1998; Collier and Levitsky, 1997).
somewhere between liberal and authoritarian, these
semi-democratic regimes are known as ‘electoral Democratic Consolidation in Chile
democracies’. Secondly, ‘advanced democracies’,
which, as the name suggests, possess qualities which Before President Aylwin took office in March 1990,
are above the minimum required to be considered as most observers anticipated the return to democracy
liberal (Dogan, 1997). The type of democracy instilled would bring conflict, social friction and political insta-
post-transition determines the empirical viewpoint, bility (Rabkin, 1992). One critic predicted that “any
or context, of the regime, and helps identify where return to democracy would entail vocal demands,
the democracy needs consolidation. from a variety of social groups and movements, to
reverse the policies instituted by the regime since
Defining democratic consolidation can also be done 1973” (Loveman, 1986-87, p.29). The Concertación
by addressing the normative horizons, or goals, of faced a struggle to silence its critics. Observers famil-
the new regime (Schedler, 1998). The position that iar with both the Pinochet era and the ‘ideological
a democracy is in will determine the goals it sets, as sectarianism’ of pre-1973 Chile were critical of its
“those who look from electoral or liberal democracy abilities to govern with Air Force General Fernando
to advanced democracy equate democratic consoli- Matthei stating that the Concertación bore more
dation with democratic deepening, with advances resemblance to a clown, fit for a circus, but not for
in the quality of democracy [whereas] those who government (Rabkin, 1992).
look from electoral democracy to liberal democ-

85