Understanding agency in civilian-armed group interactions

Key messages Within both the academic and policy literature, civilians are rarely seen as having significant influence over armed actors, or over conflict dynamics more broadly – but that is starting to change. This paper explores what we know about civilian–armed group relations, and raises new questions for investigation. It urges us to think of ‘civilians’ and ‘armed groups’ as diverse, fluid and overlapping categories, and refocus our attention on how civilians exercise agency. The paper concludes by outlining a social capital-based framework for understanding these dynamics. Future research will test and build on this framework.