Ranger/soldier: patterns of militarizing conservation in Uganda

In recent years, several African states have increasingly militarized their wildlife authorities in response growing threats to protected areas (PAs) that come from a range of actors including hunters, poachers, and armed groups. As park rangers now face the overlapping challenges of conservation, law enforcement, and security in PAs, many are provided with paramilitary training, lethal weapons, and sophisticated equipment, often in conjunction with national armies and international actors. Much of the prevailing literature on “green militarization” has done much to advance our understanding of the potential negative consequences associated with the coercive roles of rangers in PAs, but often sidesteps the social, political, and organizational contexts in which park rangers operate. This article presents an interdisciplinary collaboration between anthropology, criminology, and political science that builds a multi-level analytical framework to examine patterns of militarization of the Uganda Wildlife Authority. It considers the political development of Uganda’s wildlife authorities over the longue durée, the attitudes of individual rangers vis-à-vis their coercive roles as agents of law enforcement, and the organization and behavior of rangers at the sub-national level as they engage communities adjacent to Mount Elgon National Park.