CONFLICT-RELATED SEXUAL VIOLENCE FROM THE PERPETRATOR'S PERSPECTIVE: LEADERSHIP, GROUP COHESION AND CULTURAL NORM. A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Sammanfattning

Sexual violence in armed conflict is a widespread and persistent phenomenon. The existing literature has so far focused on either survivor-centred perspectives or on individual-level explanation of perpetrators, leaving the organisational dynamics of armed groups underdocumented and fragmented. This thesis aims to examine how structural and cultural characteristics of the military organization contribute to the perpetration of sexual violence against civilian women during an armed conflict. Based on the theoretical framework, the analysis focuses on three organisational dimensions: the role of leadership in relation to orders, tolerance, and implicit encouragement; the cohesion of the military group; and military culture, such as masculinity. This research includes 18 studies and adopts a thematic systematic literature review. The review covers the period 2000-2026. The data are examined through thematic coding to identify recurring patterns related to leadership, cohesion, and military culture. The results show that leaders of armed forces rarely order explicitly to rape civilian women; however, they often encourage and condone it by being perpetrators themself. Regarding the group cohesion, results show that committing sexual violence together can strengthen the loyalty and unity between the members of the organization, especially when forced recruited. When it comes to military culture, the analysis highlights how the military institution often relies on the training of aggressiveness and dominance of the soldier toward women, reflecting broader patriarchal and masculine values already existing during peacetime. Overall, this study addresses the gap in the literature on how organizational explanations of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) are conceptualized to date and shows how such violence is incorporated in the military structure, group dynamics, and cultural norms, highlighting the need for future research on the internal functioning of military forces to develop policy interventions targeting leadership accountability and cultural transformation within the army.