Magic Soldiers and Strategy – Nathalie Wlodarczyk
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This paper stems from a desire to contextualise traditional religious practices as seen in a
number of contemporary African wars and bring them in to a familiar strategic
framework.
1
Traditional religious elements, it is argued in this paper, contribute
significantly to the social and cultural context in which acts of violence and war are
carried out, interpreted and contextualised. As such they need to be incorporated in
analysis to make sense of certain strategic choices.
The study of religion continues to be haunted by the wider image – certainly among
academics, but also popular in the increasingly secular West – of religion as something
irrational. Drawing on an enlightenment heritage, seeing magic and religion at the bottom
of the ladder of progress topped by scientific enquiry, religious beliefs and practices have
tended to be seen as signs of primitive intellectual development. As a result it has until
recently tended to be excluded from serious consideration in analysis of ‘rational’ activity
such as strategy.
2
Strategic theory assumes instrumentality and rationality. Undoubtedly, magic and
supernatural force may at first seem incompatible with such assumptions. But as with
most existential frameworks that provide explanation and meaning to individuals as well
as groups, the substance of the beliefs do not determine the functionality of the actions
that result from them. It is with reference to these basic means-ends relationships – which
lie at the heart of strategic theory – that this paper proposes that the use of magic in
contemporary African warfare performs certain functions that in fact fit comfortably with
the basic principles of strategic theory. As a result, to understand the behaviour of
fighters in places where ‘magic’ is a recurring feature, one must understand its rational
and instrumental purpose – its strategic function.
1
African traditional religion, is understood here as beliefs and practices providing access through human
agency to supernatural power not based on holy texts but rooted in an ind igenous oral tradition ,
distinguishing them from the two big religions in Africa, Christianity and Islam. While this will be the
working definition used here it should be acknowledged that there is an ongoing debate both about the
definition and nature of witchcraft/traditional religion, and that this definition is in many ways limited. This
wide definition is intended to underpin this study of the unfamiliar religious dimension of contemporary
African warfare from a decidedly Western viewpoint, and more specifically the role it plays in strategy.
2
Academia has however recently seen a growing interest in a serious assessment of the role of religion in
conflict, not least because of the rise of radical Islam and the ongoing religious dimension to the conflic ts in
the Middle East. But wider study of the role of religion in conflict is also starting to receive greater
attention, a development this paper is intended to contribute towards.
Convention