From ex-combatants to citizens: Connecting everyday citizenship and social reintegration in Colombia i Maivel Rodríguez L* a , Eleni Andreouli b , Caroline Howarth c [a] and [c] Department of social Psychology, The London School of Economics, London, UK [b] Department of Psychology, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK Abstract Citizenship can be understood as a form of civic participation and a means of developing social relations with members of the broader community and, therefore, can act as an important means to help reintegrate ex-combatants back into mainstream society. This paper discusses an exploratory research project conducted with a sample of 23 Colombian ex-combatants from non-state armed groups who are current participants of the national programme of reintegration in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. By collecting their views and opinions about what it is like to become reintegrated, we explored the range of social factors that facilitate as well as obstruct practices of citizenship in everyday life and, subsequently, the ways in which this affects their overall experience of reintegration into Colombian society. Drawing on social psychological literature on citizenship and on the theory of social representations, we explored how citizenship is understood and enacted by this group as part of their reintegration process. A thematic analysis of three focus groups highlights an enabling as well as a limiting social context that affects former combatants’ ability to participate as citizens. This paper also contributes to the social psychology of citizenship by studying the experience of reintegration in conflict-affected societies. Keywords: disarmament, demobilisation, reintegration, citizenship, social representations, identity, Colombian armed conflict * Corresponding author at: 161 Abbeyfield road, London, SE16 2BS, UK. Email: mayrodrig@gmail.com The Colombian internal armed conflict and its disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme Divided societies due to violent conflicts are at risk of becoming further segregated by what has come to be called “intractable conflict” (Smithey, 2009). In these societies community identities are often constructed on the basis of conflict. In Colombia, in particular, a long-lasting internal conflict has led to fragmentation and to the construction of social dichotomies such as “victims and victimizers”, “subversive and civilians”, “displaced and demobilized” and “citizens and non- citizens”. Yet, what makes the situation even more complex is the “vicious cycle involving identity and retributive collective action which becomes almost seamless” (Smithey, 2009, p. 87). Colombian conflict has been recognised as the lengthiest internal conflict in the western hemisphere (Theidon, 2007, 2009). Its roots date back to the time of ‘la violencia’ (1948 – 1958), a chaotic and disturbed time of constant violent clashes between the two traditional liberal and conservative parties and the resistance movements fighting the power of the elite (Ugarriza & Craig, 2012; Theidon, 2009). Guerrilla and paramilitary groups have been particularly prominent actors of the conflict. The first, recognised as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) emerged as a group of communist-resistance peasants fighting against inequity, bureaucracy, isolation and political and economic oppression from the Accepted: 2015-06-10. Scheduled for: 2015, Vol. 3(2) Journal of Social and Political Psychology (jspp.psychopen.eu) Accepted Manuscript