Post-war Regimes and State Reconstruction in Liberia and Sierra Leone

The shocks of the unexpected outbreak of violent internal armed conflicts in post Cold War West Africa continue to linger in policy and academic circles. While considerable attention is devoted to explaining the civil wars, there is little understanding of the delicate and unpredictable processes of reconstruction. Post-war reconstruction programmes in Africa have become, by and large, externally driven processes; and while externalisation may not be negative per se, it is important to interrogate how such intervention recognises and interacts with local dynamics, and how it manipulates and conditions the outcomes of post-conflict reconstruction agenda. Investigating the interface between power elite, the nature of post-war regimes and the pattern which post-war reconstruction takes is important both for theory and practice. This original study, by some of West Africa's leading scholars, interrogates post-war reconstruction processes in the twin West African countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone, focusing on the effects of regime types on the nature, scope, success or failure of their post-war reconstruction efforts. Political scientists, diplomats, the international community, donor and humanitarian agencies, advocacy groups, the United Nations and its agencies, would find it an important resource in dealing with countries emerging from protracted violence and civil war.

Amadu Sesay is a Professor of International Relations at the Obafemi Awolowo University, lle-lfe, Nigeria.
Charles Ukeje is a Reader in International Relations at Obafemi Awolowo University, lle-lfe, Nigeria.
Osman Gbla holds a doctorate from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, where he also served as Head of the Department of Political Science and Acting Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law.
Olawale Ismail is currently a Research Associate of the Project on Youth Vulnerability and Exclusion in Africa with the Conflict, Security and Development Group, International Policy Institute at King's College, London, UK.