Bourdieu’s capital and insurgent group resilience:a field-theoretic approach to the polisario front

The conflict between the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco is approaching its 43rd year and, despite being under-reported, continues to draw attention for the resilience of the ethnically Sahrawi rebel movement. Even as regional and international politics have shifted—and with nearly 150,000 Sahrawi refugees living in camps in Algeria—the Polisario Front has endured. This article asks what explains that persistence and applies Bourdieu’s “forms of capital” as an analytical lens.

Drawing on field research in Algeria, Western Sahara, and the United States, it argues that the group’s social, cultural, symbolic, and economic capital help account for its survival.

Full report

Source: Routledge / Taylor & Francis: Small Wars & Insurgencies