Understanding The Lords Resistance Army Insurgency

This book provides an in depth examination of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which has, for almost 30 years, conducted untold atrocities across the central African nations of Uganda, Southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. Understanding the Lord's Resistance Army Insurgency examines the LRA's emergence and evolution, the ideology, strategy and tactics behind it, motivational aspects of its recruitment, its engagement in peace processes, and a detailed description of leadership and group dynamics. This work is based on a wide range of written sources and extensive interviews with individuals intimately related to the group including top LRA commanders, government sources, victims, child soldiers, abductees and wives of Joseph Kony. Moving past stories of unimaginable brutality, forced recruitment, and the group's mystical belief system, the book provides a well-grounded analysis of the different stages of the LRA's development. It demonstrates how the group represents an obscure case study that challenges many of the common assumptions about the operational dynamics of terrorist organizations. Written to fill a gap in academia in relation to African- and Christian-based terrorism, this book is suited to students, researchers and practitioners in political sciences, war, conflict and terrorism studies, African politics and international relations and development.