Sister Forces: Park Rangers and Regime Security in African States

ABSTRACT

In many African states, park rangers perform a variety of roles as armed state actors. Facing the overlapping challenges of wildlife management and regime security, many have become increasingly militarized, with significant degree of variation. Using case studies from Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan, this article provides an expanded conceptualization of militarization that configures two characteristics of Africa’s park rangers: 1) their integration into or insulation from the state security apparatus, and 2) their coercive roles of either law enforcement or combat. The article builds an argument that takes into account colonial institutions and civil-military relations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Continent-wide, wildlife travel and tourism make up roughly 7% of Africa’s GDP.

2. Wildlife authorities refer to the state institutions responsible for conservation and wildlife management. Park rangers are deployed by wildlife authorities within protected areas.

3. Most wildlife authorities in Africa have different units of park rangers, including law enforcement, tourism, and community conservation, which often work in tandem. While most rangers undergo some form of military training, this study largely concerns law enforcement units, which are those most likely to be explicitly militarised. Moreover, rangers can move between units over the course of their career.

4. Historically, environmental stewardship has extended to separate institutions concerned with fisheries and forestry. These are excluded from this study because seldom have these been militarised, and in fact as is illustrated by the case of Uganda, some have been collapsed into wildlife authorities.

5. See www.africanparks.org.

6. Term gratefully borrowed from First. R., 1970. Power in Africa. New York: Pantheon Books.

7. Examples include: Neumann (1898). Elephant Hunting in Eastern Equatorial Africa. London: Rowland Ward; Blunt (1933). Elephant. London: Neville Spearman; Bell (1949). Karamojo Safari. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company; Temple-Perkins (1955). Kingdom of the Elephant. Essex: Anchor Press 1955.

8. Commission for the Technical Co-operation in Africa South of the Sahara, Proceedings of the Third International Conference for the Protection of the Fauna and Flora of Africa, Bukavu, 26–31 October 1953, Belgian Congo.

9. African Parks runs Garamba National Park, and the Virunga Alliance is the successor to the African Conservation Fund.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Minerva-USIP Peace and Security Early Career Scholars Award; the College of Charleston’s Center for Public Choice and Market Process Research Fellowship; and the College of Charleston Faculty Research and Development Grant.

Notes on contributors

Christopher Day

Christopher Day is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of African Studies at the College of Charleston. He is the author of The Fates of African Rebels: Victory, Defeat, and the Politics of Civil War, as well as numerous articles on armed conflict in Africa.