Decay or Resilience?

Abstract

IntroductIonH isTory has been witness to plenty of civil wars in which largescale rape of civilians by soldiers, rebels, and militias occurred either as part of a strategy for opportunistic reasons or because rape became an established practice. 1 yet little is known about the social consequences of wartime sexual violence. 2 This article examines the long-term consequences of widespread conflict-related sexual violence (crsv) in sierra leone. Does crsv destroy the social fabric of communities as is often claimed, or are victims, families, and communities able to overcome such traumatic events and demonstrate resilience? What do crsv victims and their families do to remain part of their communities? These questions are significant, particularly in postconflict societies where the state is often absent and people must rely on and cooperate with each other.The feminist literature provides the most established and developed ideas on these questions and suggests that crsv, most often rape by armed groups, is associated with stigma and results in social exclusion. 3 This notion is the dominant view of feminist scholarship and within the development community, and in this article i refer to it as the decay mechanism. nity organizations and more likely to contribute to social events, such as weddings and funerals, and they donate more often. in addition, the analysis shows that crsv-affected households are as likely as unaffected households to receive the community's help in times of need, which speaks against the idea of social exclusion. These effects of crsv are independent of other forms of violence, including killings, mutilation, and displacement, and are robust to an instrumental variable estimation, which uses the exogenous distance to mining areas as an instrument for crsv exposure perpetrated by the ruf.Ultimately, i find unbiased evidence for the resilience argument. To illuminate the underlying mechanisms, i provide qualitative accounts that community acceptance of crsv survivors and their families in sierra leone has been facilitated through immense peacebuilding efforts, women's rights campaigns, and in particular, local-level reconciliation and cleansing rituals. in terms of policy relevance, the article provides new insights into communities' adaptive capabilities when dealing with traumatic events like widespread crsv and adds to the growing discourse on resilience by providing evidence that individuals, households, and communities in postconflict settings are able to absorb certain shocks and distress. Using these local abilities will benefit the efficacy of humanitarian and development programs tremendously. concepts, MechanIsMs, and hypothesesHow does crsv affect victims' and their families' behavior and acceptance in their community? Before turning to the proposed mechanisms, i define the two key concepts used in this article: prosocial behavior and crsv.prosocIal BehavIor: defInItIons and Its usefulness In postconflIct socIetIes The notions of prosocial behavior, altruism, and cooperative norms hav...

Gendered Conflict, Gendered Outcomes: The Politicization of Sexual Violence and Quota Adoption

“…While CRSV has many horrific consequences for its victims (Leatherman 2011; Stark and Wessells 2012), recent research also highlights the resilience of victims and women in the face of this violence. Koos (2018) provides evidence of increased prosocial behavior and resilience of Sierra Leonean households affected by CRSV. Kreft (2019) shows that prevalent SV in conflict is correlated with increased women’s civil society mobilization.…”

Civil War and Female Empowerment

“…In parallel, conflict-related sexual violence can strengthen the social cohesion of a community, as well as trigger a collective solidarity response (Gilligan, Pasquale, and Samii 2014; Voors et al 2012; Berry 2015; Kreft 2019). For example, evidence from Sierra Leone shows that families of victims to sexual violence are more likely to engage in community organizations and social events (Koos 2018). Unlike the first mechanism’s emphasis on “pragmatic” effects related to male vacuum and mistrust, the mobilization mechanism speaks of female agency and deliberate actions when the opportunity arises.…”

Variations in War Crimes During the Sierra Leone Civil War

“…Wood (2006Wood ( , 2009Wood ( , 2018) has examined the nature and cause of variation in sexual violence during armed conflict, as have Lilly (2007) and Mullins (2009). Work has also examined sexual violence in the Sierra Leone conflict, specifically (Bensel & Sample, 2017;Cohen, 2013;Koos, 2018;Mullins & Visagaratnam, 2015), as well as a host of other modern conflicts (e.g., see Baaz & Stern, 2009;Bunds, 2009;Butler et al, 2007;Hagan et al, 2009;S. Kramer, 2012;Olujic, 1998;Robinson, 2017;Traunmuller et al, 2019).…”