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For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications “When the war started, I was ready” Organisational motivations for the inclusion of female fighters in non-state armed organisations during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) by Jennifer Philippa Eggert A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Politics and International Studies University of Warwick, Department of Politics and International Studies September 2017 Table of Content 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Women, war and political violence 1 1.2 Existing research on female fighters 6 1.3 Research question and aims 9 1.4 Methodological approach 12 1.5 Findings 14 Numbers, percentages and roles of women in 14 the militias Individual motivations: women’s insistence to 16 be included Organisational characteristics 17 The security context 19 Societal factors 20 1.6 Civil war(s) in Lebanon 21 Phases of the war 21 Phase 1: Spring 1975 to Summer / Autumn 22 1976 Phase 2: Early 1977 to Summer 1982 23 Phase 3: Summer 1982 to Spring 1985 25 Phase 4: June 1985 to Autumn 1990 27 Key non-state armed political actors 28 Causes of the war 30 1.7 Structure of the thesis 35 2 A multi-level, process- and context-focused 39 approach Bridging the divide between conflict and 39 terrorism studies I Involvement in political violence: a 41 theoretical framework 2.1 Theories on involvement in political violence 44 Structure or agency 44 Psychological approaches and rational 46 perspectives Grievances or greed? 50 Context-based theories and process-focused 51 explanations Summary 53 2.2 Explaining organisational decision-making 55 Applying organisational theory to the study of 57 non-state armed actors Studying non-state armed groups as rational 60 actors Organisations matter 62 A multi-level approach to the study of 64 organisational decision-making Summary 67 II Existing literature on female non-state 68 political violence 2.3 Organisational motivations for the inclusion 70 of female fighters Individual motivations 72 Security context 74 Societal factors 77 Organisational characteristics 80 Summary 82 2.4 Chapter summary 84 3 Conducting field research on non-state 86 political violence 3.1 Epistemology and methodology 89 Gaining a deeper understanding of complex 91 social processes Overcoming lack of data 93 Verifying information 94 Case selection 95 3.2 Data collection 97 General research context 97 Research methods 99 Sampling and access issues 107 3.3 Data management and analysis 112 3.4 Research ethics and researcher reflexivity 116 Research ethics 116 Research participants’ safety 119 Researcher’s safety 121 Researcher reflexivity 124 3.5 Conclusion 131 4 Individual motivations 133 4.1 Choice or coercion? 135 4.2 Individual backgrounds 141 4.3 Gender-specific motivations? 151 4.4 The influence of the security context and 160 perceived injustice on individual motivations 4.5 The influence of organisational 164 characteristics on individual motivations 4.6 The influence of societal aspects on 169 individual motivations 4.7 Conclusion 173 5 Organisational characteristics 177 5.1 Ideology 180 5.2 Internal structure, dynamics and discord 189 5.3 External influence and support 200 5.4 Age and size 206 5.5 Aims 211 5.6 Conclusion 218 6 Security context 221 6.1 Threat perception 225 6.2 Seeking attention 235 6.3 Asserting a position 244 6.4 Avoiding detection 250 6.5 Conclusion 258 7 Societal factors 263 7.1 Facilitating factors 267 Societal approval 267 Societal changes 270 Female participation in political parties 273 Loosening of gender norms amplified by war 276 7.2 Inhibiting factors 278 Conservative gender norms and expectations 279 Women’s non-violent roles in the militias and 282 political parties Fear of rape 284 7.3 Inter-community and intra-community 287 variation Local differences 289 Religious differences 292 The role of class and education 295 7.4 Managing societal expectations 298 Risk-awareness 299 Practical steps 301 Narrative approaches 304 Role-models 308 7.5 Conclusion 309 8 Conclusion 311 8.1 Organisational motivations for the inclusion 313 of female fighters in the Lebanese civil war Individual motivations: women’s insistence to 313 be included Organisational characteristics 315 The security context 318 Societal factors 320 8.2 Contribution to existing literature 323 Literature on the Lebanese civil war 323 Theories on involvement in political violence 324 and organisational decision-making Individual motivations 326 Organisational characteristics 329 The security context 331 Societal factors 333 8.3 Limitations of this study 336 8.4 New questions 340 8.5 Implications for practice and policy 345 8.6 Epilogue: post-war perspectives 352 Bibliography 358 Appendix 377 Map of Lebanon and her neighbouring 377 countries Map of Lebanon and her district and regions 378 List of major militias, parties and alliances 379 Interview guide, summer 2015 381 Interview guide, winter 2015/16 383 List of interviewees 385 Acknowledgements I would like to thank all of the wonderful people without whom I would not have been able to finish this research project. I could not have enjoyed the last four years more, which would not have been possible without your support. Thank you ever so much to… All of my interviewees in Lebanon, All of my friends and colleagues in Lebanon, Everyone who helped with logistics before and during my research trips in Lebanon, Everyone who helped me gain access to potential interviewees in Lebanon, My supervisors at the University of Warwick, The administrative staff at the University of Warwick, My friends and colleagues at the University of Warwick, The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the ESRC Doctoral Training Centre at the University of Warwick, and the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) who so generously funded my research, My host at Princeton University, The administrative staff at Princeton University, My friends and colleagues at Princeton University, My editor at Palgrave Macmillan, The reviewers who took the time to comment on my book proposal and journal articles, The colleagues and friends who commented on my research at conferences in Europe, the US and the Middle East, Every single babysitter who looked after my daughter in the last four years, so that I could conduct my research, work on my thesis or attend conferences in the UK and abroad, My family and friends. Alhamdulillah. Inclusion of material The thesis is my own work. It has not been submitted for a degree at another university. A revised version of Chapter Four has been submitted – in the form of a journal article – to ‘Studies in Conflict and Terrorism’. At the time of writing, it is under revision after the first round of reviews. Some of the challenges I encountered during the fieldwork for this research study, which are mentioned in Chapter Three of this thesis, are discussed in more detail in a short article which was published in the ‘International Journal of Feminist Politics’ (Eggert, 2017). Some of the interviews referred to in Chapter Seven were used for a book chapter, which is currently under review for an edited Routledge volume on the 1968 movement, violence and women. Abstract Analysing individual motivations, organisational characteristics, security pressures and societal factors, this thesis focuses on organisational motivations for the inclusion of female fighters during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990). It examines why some of the non-state armed organisations (or militias) involved in the war included women as fighters whereas others did not. This thesis is the first comprehensive analysis of the topic, and the first study which takes into account the roles of women in all major militias involved in the war, including the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP), Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), Lebanese Kataeb Party (Kataeb), Lebanese Forces (LF), Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and Amal Movement (Amal). This thesis is based on semi-structured interviews with 69 former male and female fighters, party members, civil society representatives, researchers and journalists. Fieldwork was conducted during four one- to six-week-long field visits to Lebanon between the summer of 2015 and autumn 2016. Moreover, four (auto)biographies of former female fighters were included in the analysis. This thesis argues that the main reason for female participation in the militias involved in the Lebanese civil war was women’s insistence to be included. Organisational barriers to women’s inclusion in those militias that were not entirely in favour of female participation, such as the militias of the (centre) right, was overcome due to the security context. Overall, societal opposition to female participation remained relatively high, which is why (compared with other conflict contexts) the overall number of female fighters was not higher. List of abbreviations Amal Amal Movement CAO Communist Action Organisation DDR Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration DFLP Democratic