Francesca Agege and Taylor RydbomInternational Relations5 April 2014Since 1987, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a violent rebel group led by Joseph Kony, has terrorized the people of Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and Southern Sudan. The issue was recently brought to light by the media as part of the Kony 2012 movement. The international community struggles to see how the Ugandan government failed to suppress the terrorist group. Many traditional perspectives seek to explain the conflict by understanding the clash of ideals between the LRA leader and the government, the economic corruption that led to extreme poverty, and the LRA's struggle for power. In this article we will discuss the government's inability to suppress the actions of the LRA through the use of the traditional international relations perspective. The Kony 2012 movement, started by a small non-profit organization called Invisible Children, brought international attention to the issue, despite the fact that the LRA has been active since the 1980s. The LRA was founded despite the national government. The group was designed to rebel against the presidency of Yoweri Museveni. They were unhappy with the shift of power from Tito Okello, who came from the north, to Museveni, a Ugandan from the south. Much of the activity was spite and revenge against the north. Joseph Kony became a leading figure in the struggle when he formed the LRA and was the forerunner of the rebellion. He was initially linked to the group called the Holy Spirit Movement. The organization was a Christian group that had a firm desire to create a theocracy in Uganda, which would only allow Christia... middle of paper... to be an even stronger nation. On December 14, 2008, the Ugandan government again decided to deal militarily with the LRA, with the armies of South Sudan and Congo, and with the support of the United States. Realists argue that this is due to the Ugandan government's lack of resources. However, all LRA commanders escaped unharmed. In this case we mainly agree with the identity perspective because the roots of the issue stem from the ethnic conflict. From ethnic conflict we moved on to religious conflict and the concept of humanity was eradicated. The government is unable to shut down the LRA because it cannot compromise. Although the realist and liberal perspectives are very strong, the answer to the question of why the government was unable to suppress the LRA lies mainly in the identity perspective..