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Early 2020 saw the beginning of a pandemic that triggered an unprecedented global health crisis and economic turmoil. The COVID-19 pandemic also crucially affected the dynamics of political mobilization in social movements. This introduction seeks to reflect on such effects. In particular, we ask: How did the pandemic change or hinder existing struggles? To what extent did new activist networks, issues, and forms of action emerge? Drawing on the special issue's contributions, we highlight how the pandemic gave way to new incentives and forms of mobilization, in particular the anti-lockdown protests with covid-specific claims, and actor constellations that often brought together people with diverse ideological orientations. These mobilizations were crucially facilitated by social media, bringing together previously disconnected people and harnessing heightened emotions of fear, anger, distrust, uncertainty, and anxiety. At the same time, existing movements continued their work on longer standing issues and often effectively adapted their organizational infrastructures, repertoires of action, or goals to a new set of priorities and circumstances. As in other crises, the pandemic spurred mutual aid and solidarity activism for those most affected by the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of social movements have taken the form of connective action achieved through datafication structures in the absence of central coordinating social movement organizations. Social movement demobilization in digitally-mediated connective action remains a relatively understudied area. Drawing together social movement studies and communication studies, we introduce the theoretical framework of 'implicated networks of demobilization' (INsD) to explore the dynamics and implications of datafication for social movement demobilization. Based on examples from the Anti-Extradition Bill movement in Hong Kong and the 2020 George Floyd protests in the United States, we theorize that the connective action embedded in the datafication structure confronts three demobilizational dynamics: implicated data, materiality, and epistemic dynamics. These dynamics imply that connective action mobilization in datafied societies faces constraints pertaining to state-level network oppression, potential threats imposed by the material datafication structure, and the spread of digital knowledge of self-protection. The INsD framework contributes to understanding the interactive data-mediated dynamics between the state and activists in connective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) and security sector reform (SSR) programs are critical components of postwar transitional processes. The interlinkages between the two programs have been essential, especially in determining how combatants in armed groups and armed forces could become part of reconstituted security sector institutions, including the military and the police. Additionally, these links help determine who may be eligible as participants in these processes, and why some actors should be excluded. Over the past four or so decades, academic and policy understanding of postconflict settings has led to the acknowledgment that the two programs reinforce each other and should be designed to ensure fluidity and complementarity. However, there are usually gaps in linking the two, which have negative implications for peace, security, and stability in countries in transition from violence to peace. While there are several studies on the links between DDR and SSR, this paper seeks to examine both previous and current practices in both conflict and postconflict settings, with the aim of interrogating the changes that have been introduced over time to strengthen the links, and some of the gaps that are still existing, or emerging, especially as the nature of armed conflicts continue to change in Africa. Methodologically, the paper adopts a qualitative approach, through which interviews were conducted with practitioners, policy makers, and academics in the fields of DDR and SSR, across countries that previously implemented and those that are currently implementing DDR and SSR programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) processes have undergone significant evolution in recent decades, reflecting the complex dynamics of the transition from conflict to peace. This paper presents a comparative analysis of three generations of DDR processes, illustrating the shift from a primarily security-focused approach to a comprehensive strategy that includes socioeconomic development, political participation, and community engagement. In Colombia, a country with a long history of armed conflict, the process of DDR has undergone significant changes. These changes were made to adapt to the intricate realities of war, peace agreements, and social integration. During its evolution, DDR in Colombia has encountered challenges in expanding beyond the traditional scope of disarmament and demobilization to include the crucial aspect of reintegration. This highlights the significance of addressing the varied needs of ex-combatants and ensuring their sustainable integration into civilian life. The findings emphasize the importance of flexible and context-sensitive DDR frameworks that acknowledge the distinct challenges and opportunities of each post-conflict scenario. This provides valuable insights for future peacebuilding efforts worldwide.

Aim. The purpose of the study was to study approaches to the resumption of an effective educational process in the Kazakh SSR after the end of the World War II. The study of the approaches to restoration and improvement of the educational system in post-war Kazakhstan is relevant in today's conditions, when the educational environment of Kazakhstan faces a number of challenges that require its reform. Methods. Various research methods were used in the scientific work, in particular, analysis, synthesis, comparison, deduction, generalisation. Results and conclusion. As a result, the state of the educational environment in Kazakhstan was studied immediately after the end of the war. The approaches of state bodies to the regulation of educational public relations are considered, taking into account the conditions of that time. There was a significant increase in the number of schools and other educational institutions, which contributed to the development of educational infrastructure. It is proved that the priority specialties for the state were those that contributed to the implementation of construction and economic activities. Based on this, it was possible to reveal the main advantages in reforming education, which contributed to improving the quality of knowledge in schools, universities and technical schools. Cognitive value. The value of the results obtained is both scientific and practical. Accordingly, the first provides a deepening of knowledge regarding the historical process of the formation of the educational environment in Kazakhstan, and the second allows us to determine the most effective ways to revive education in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to make a psychoanalytical analysis of posttraumatic stress disorders; to consider a type of PTSD such as military traumatic stress; to describe some certain conditions, which contribute to the formation of military traumatic stress. Methods of the research. The following theoretical methods of the research were used to solve the tasks formulated in the article: a categorical method, structural and functional methods, the methods of the analysis, systematization, modeling and generalization. The experimental method was the method of organizing empirical research. Also, we used the method of Positive Psychotherapy. The results of the research. We proved, that the main symptoms of PTSD syndrome of combatants because of the russian-Ukrainian war included: pathological memories (obsessive return to the war situation); sleep disturbance; inability to remember, such as amnesia for some events (avoidance of everything that reminds of combat events); excessive excitability (inadequate excessive mobilization); hypersensitivity (increased alertness to the new occurrence of extreme factors). Conclusions. We considered a type of PTSD such as military traumatic stress. In our opinion, it occurs in direct participants in hostilities. Certain conditions contribute to the formation of military traumatic stress, for example: a sharp change in the conditions of peaceful civilian life to combat conditions, to which it is necessary to adapt quickly. In such conditions, a person is constantly in danger, he/she is a witness to destruction, fires, deaths (of both acquaintances and strangers); a sharp change from the situation of hostilities to a peaceful life. A combatant has to adapt to this situation anew. The maladaptive processes that occur during this period are distinguished by their duration and are called PTSD. Returning to normal peaceful life as a result of the end of hostilities or as a result of demobilization, a person often remains adapted to the situation of hostilities.

This article examines two outcomes of demobilization in post-revolutionary contexts, democratic transition and counter-revolution. Complementing elite-driven approaches, we argue that the way demobilization ends is conditional upon the capacity of challengers to promote enduring alliances. Following a paired controlled comparison, we analyse two cases, Egypt and Tunisia and processes of alliance building and fragmentation preceding the 2013 coup d'Etat in Egypt, and the adoption of a new Constitution in 2014 in Tunisia. Data from semi-structured and in-depth interviews were collected through fieldwork in multiple localities of Egypt and Tunisia between 2011 and 2019. Results show that the fragmentation of the challengers' coalition in post-revolutionary Egypt contributed to a counter-revolution while, in Tunisia, challengers' alliances rooted in the pre-revolutionary period lasted throughout the phase of demobilization and supported a democratic transition. We conclude by discussing some alliance-based mechanisms accounting for a democratic transition: intergroup trust-building, brokerage and ideological boundary deactivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This research explores the potential of supervised machine learning models to support the decision-making process in demobilizing ex-combatants in the peace process in Colombia. Recent works apply machine learning in analyzing crime and national security; however, there are no previous studies in the specific contexts of demobilization in an armed conflict. Therefore, the present paper makes a significant contribution by training and evaluating four machine learning models, using a database composed of 52,139 individuals and 21 variables. From the obtained results, it was possible to conclude that the XGBoost algorithm is the most suitable for predicting the future status of an ex-combatant. The XGBoost presented an AUC score of 0.964 in the cross-validation stage and an AUC of 0.952 in the test stage, evidencing the high reliability of the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at contributing to our understanding of the role of emotions in the protest movements’ demobilization by drawing on the prochoice protest movement activity in Poland. The two most significant waves of social mobilization in the history of democratic Poland were an expression of opposition to the tightening of anti-abortion laws. Although those populist movements failed to achieve their goals, their mass activity ended. Charles Tilly’s and Sidney Tarrow’s theoretical framework of demobilization explains the dynamics of contention only to some extent. Accordingly, demobilization began when most protesters became discouraged due to repression, boredom, and the desire to return to their everyday life. However, it is a puzzle under what conditions these cognitive factors translate into demobilization in a way that shapes and finishes the trajectory of movement activity. The study contributes theoretically to social movement studies and contentious politics by developing the theory of demobilization. It also sheds light on the role of emotions in orienting and shaping mass mobilization. Furthermore, it contributes empirically to studies on pro-choice activism in Poland by explaining the dynamics of the two great waves of mass mobilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper investigates the demobilization of Northern Rhodesian (Zambian) servicemen after the First World War. Tied to this, is the compensation and commemoration of the askari (soldiers) and mtenga-tenga (porters) who died in the war. The compensation of ex-servicemen was a drawn-out process which took several years, eventually coming to a halt in 1928 with many Africans forfeiting their dues. The British South Africa Company (BSAC) and the British Colonial Government did not erect individual tombstones to commemorate ex-servicemen. The partiality exhibited in commemoration and compensation processes, based on racial lines, did not reflect the enormous contributions which these Africans made to the Allied war effort. The main sources for this article are official government records stored in the National Archives of Zambia, and records of the Catholic White Father missionaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timor-Leste during and after the process of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) in the years 2000-2004 did not achieve an acceptable level of security. This article, using a DDR maximalist perspective and a liberal perspective in security studies, examines the UN limitations in providing a solid problem-solving process and its implications for DDR. The qualitative data collected from several personal interviews to different stakeholders is analyzed using thematic analysis. Based on these interviews and observations this research finds that the UN had several limitations to carry out DDR in Timor-Leste, being the most salient, the weak legitimacy and the lack of professionalism in human resources.

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By exploring silence as a response to repression, this study contributes to the literature on the dynamic rela-tionship between protest and repression; it examines the ways in which certain radical activists responded with silence to the escalating repression they were experiencing. Analysis explains how and why they remained si-lent, and the consequences of that silence for individual activists and collective mobilization. Based on a case study of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) campaign in the UK, this article includes the reflections of activists who experienced repression first-hand. By analysing in-depth interviews and other qualitative data, the study identifies four different forms of silence among the activists facing repression: silence as a strategy, si-lence as a cultural trait, silence due to over-confidence and silence resulting from the normalization of repres-sion. The results show how cultural and strategic dynamics play out in protestors' experiences of and responses to repression. The study demonstrates the importance of the neglected research area of the response to re-pression for advancing our understanding of the conditions under which repression leads either to demobiliza-tion or to mobilization.

This article explores the photographs taken of the Red Army's homecoming in the summer 1945. It examines what these reveal about post-war reconstruction and the re-establishment of communities. It argues that official demobilization photography was a carefully constructed and highly politicized attempt to visualize veterans' reintegration, which subsequently structured war memory. The research is based on two forms of primary evidence, first the photographs and the visual evidence they contain, and second textual sources, including press accounts and archival documents, which reveal how these photographs were taken. The article examines the visual vocabularies and messages in photographs of soldiers departing from Berlin, and soldiers' arrival in major cities, particularly Moscow and Leningrad. These images, for all their emotional power, were not representative of mass demobilization, but have been widely reproduced. Demobilization photography communicated important messages about post-war reconstruction, the reimposition of post-war gender norms, helping re-order and create post-war society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) processes will often dismantle the command-and-control structures of non-state armed groups (NSAGs) to prevent possible remobilization. Recent studies demonstrate that in some cases ex-combatant networks provide important social and economic support that hasten transitions to civilian life; however, this literature focuses exclusively on networks that emerge among commanders, peers, and foot soldiers. In this article, we broaden existing literature on ex-combatant networks by examining the role that family relations play in combatants' war and post-war trajectory. Drawing on 18 life history interviews with former male combatants from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) we argue that the familial can often be as influential as peer-relations. Specifically, our study shows that, first, familiies can shape the defection, demobilization, and reintegration processes of ex-combatants, and, second, ex-combatant networks can play an important role in facilitating the reunion of families in the aftermath of war. The endurance of familial relations forged within NSAGs pose important considerations to DDR policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article draws on the psychological construct of moral injury to examine the demobilization – and lack of remobilization – of Jordan’s ‘Arab Spring’ protests. It argues that unforeseen failures during these protests created morally injurious events that resulted in cognitive dissonance among novice participants. The dissonance led to two distinct outcomes. Older novices were better able to resolve the dissonance and, as a result, did not develop moral injury and typically remained active in the movements. However, the younger novice participants proved less able to resolve the dissonance, which resulted in the development of symptoms of moral injury. These symptoms typically led to reduced participation, an exit from social movements, and an unlikeliness to remobilize. Through its examination of Jordan’s ‘Arab Spring’, the article introduces moral injury into the social movement literature, thereby helping to address the under-developed connection between emotions and social movement demobilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For more than a decade, widespread protests have erupted within South Africa's impoverished black townships and informal settlements. The mobilizations resembled what Sidney Tarrow refers to as a 'cycle of contention' or 'protest cycle,' as they represented a diffusion of heightened conflict across society. In contrast to Tarrow's protest cycle, however, resistance failed to converge around 'objective coalitions' and a generalized challenge, and it persisted rather than reaching exhaustion. Drawing on a case study of protest and organizing in Bekkersdal, this article argues that the fragmentation and localization of resistance reinforced this peculiar combination. Bekkersdal activists responded to democratization by seeking administrative fixes to local government. Political parties also pulled activists in different directions, yet without facilitating bridges to activism in other areas. While providing a highly visible example for activists in other areas to replicate, the Bekkersdal resistance thus failed to produce broader concessions that might have discouraged protests elsewhere. The case study shows how local containment of political incorporation processes may enable the persistence of protest cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that historians have overlooked and underplayed a major British strategic error, namely that Napoleon's escape from Elba in February 1815 was a preventable calamity that put the hard-won victory of the sixth coalition at risk. It had the potential to change the course of history because the allied victory at Waterloo was by no means assured. All of the allies bear some portion of the blame for Napoleon's escape, but none more so than the British, and especially the Royal Navy, which was the only allied service capable of preventing Napoleon's escape. Instead, Lord Castlereagh prioritized coalition politics over Napoleon's fate, and the navy prioritized the ongoing War of 1812 and demobilization over Mediterranean security. The British committed these blunders even though they knew that Napoleon was a flight risk, and even though the cost of reinforcing Napoleon's guard was dwarfed by the cost of dealing with his escape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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