Across the world, so-called warlord democrats (WDs) – former military or political leaders of armed groups who subsequently enter formal electoral politics – strongly influence the dynamics and trajectory of post-civil war politics. However, scholarship on war-to-peace transitions and post-conflict politics have often failed to pay attention to the agency of these important actors. This article rectifies this oversight, and thereby adds to the overarching scholarly debate on what enhances or hampers democratic processes after violent conflict. It makes two main contributions. First, by putting an explicit focus on the individual level of analysis and on the agency of WDs, the article opens up an avenue of research that previously has been black-boxed. Second, it demonstrates that the assumptions of socialization theory are particular suitable for enhancing our understanding of variations in the agency of WDs and their impact on post-conflict electoral politics. A novel analytical framework that refines the concept guides the empirical examination of the socialization processes of two WDs over time: Julius Maada Bio, the ex-junta leader who became President of Sierra Leone and Prince Johnson, the ex-warlord in Liberia who became Senator and presidential candidate. The findings suggest that the socialization theory holds promise as a new perspective on the study of WDs, but the theory may also need additional conceptual development and adjustment when applied outside its traditional empirical context and at the individual levels of analysis. Specifically, we find that the democratic socialization of our selected WDs display the characteristics of hybrid socialization, where conflicting normative frameworks result in lopsided socialization processes. But more research is needed on how to empirically distinguish between cost-benefit calculations and a logic of appropriateness, the long-term implications of hybrid socialization, and how to theoretically reconcile individual level socialization processes with that of states or groups.

中文翻译：

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社会化军阀民主党人：分析内战后政治中的暴力话语实践

在世界各地，所谓的军阀民主人士（WD）——后来进入正式选举政治的武装团体的前军事或政治领导人——强烈影响着内战后政治的动态和轨迹。然而，关于从战争到和平的过渡和冲突后政治的学术研究往往未能关注这些重要参与者的作用。本文纠正了这种疏忽，从而增加了关于暴力冲突后什么促进或阻碍民主进程的总体学术辩论。它做出了两个主要贡献。首先，通过明确关注个人层面的分析和 WD 的作用，本文开辟了一条以前被黑箱化的研究途径。其次，它表明社会化理论的假设特别适合增强我们对工人阶级机构的变化及其对冲突后选举政治的影响的理解。一个完善这一概念的新颖的分析框架指导了对两个WD随时间推移的社会化过程的实证检验：朱利叶斯·马达·比奥（Julius Maada Bio），前军政府领导人，后来成为塞拉利昂总统；约翰逊王子，前利比里亚军阀，后来成为参议员。和总统候选人。研究结果表明，社会化理论有望成为研究 WD 的新视角，但该理论在传统经验背景之外和个人分析层面上应用时，可能还需要额外的概念发展和调整。具体来说，我们发现我们选择的WD的民主社会化表现出混合社会化的特征，其中冲突的规范框架导致不平衡的社会化过程。但还需要更多的研究来研究如何从经验上区分成本效益计算和适当性逻辑、混合社会化的长期影响，以及如何在理论上协调个人层面的社会化过程与国家或群体的社会化过程。