Suchergebnisse

This article explores the relationship between the International Crisis Group's (ICG) interpretation of the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone and the main academic 'greed and grievance' debate at the time. It shows that the ICG's early policy recommendations were basically in line with the interpretation of these wars as caused by 'opportunistic warlordism'. However, this supposed causal link is less evident in the analytical parts of its early reports, and in the policy recommendations of later reports. These contradictory findings point to both internal developments within the ICG and to its 'two faces': it seeks to influence policy makers using detailed empirical analysis on the ground in countries in conflict or transition, but is also aware that policy makers do not generally read long reports, thus it produces executive summary and policy recommendations for this target audience. The article argues that policy recommendations cannot work without the analytical parts of the reports: the analysis sections' main function is to add legitimacy to policy recommendations and the organisation overall, contributing to its image as a genuine 'on-the-ground producer' of crisis knowledge and fostering its expert authority. Adapted from the source document.

Rather than moving in a seamlessly globalised world, the majority of West African youth is confined mostly to geographical as opposed to social mobility. This is illustrated by the cases of youth agency in Kono District (Sierra Leone), Voinjama (Northern Liberia) and Northern Mali. The key question asked in this article is not only about attempted survival, but more importantly how the youth struggle to make some meaning out of an existence that is a life with severe limitations. Thus, in order to discuss, not only the strategies applied and coping mechanisms utilised, but also attempt to flesh out the contradictions of agency, this paper analyses the three cases of diamond mining (Sierra Leone), demobilisation and remobilisation (Liberia) and migration (Northern Mali). These are strategies utilised to attempt to gain a nominal control of one's life-world and to give meaning to it. This suggests that even if this is a tactical form of agency it must nonetheless be taken seriously, since the very acting of it, even if it mostly leads to geographical and not social mobility, may have important consequences. Adapted from the source document.

The modern notion of citizenship is in crisis, and the question is if civil society can still fulfil its assumed historical mission as an organisational form that combines autonomy from the state with an ability to create bonds of trust and friendship across different groups of society? Or is the concept of civil society increasingly assuming a 'vernacular architecture' where it is an organisational form of collective action that reflects an environment of ontological uncertainty and nervousness, bordering on almost pure social angst. If civil society is becoming something else than what European history tells us in Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and DR Congo this may have important implications for processes of state-building. Adapted from the source document.

The Liberian state was originally founded by freed American slaves, or Americo-Liberians, who became the elite group of the country and against whom the natives fought. A bloody war lasted from 1989 to 2003 between the 16 different groups of people, which eventually tapered down in 2003 when the United Nations re-entered the country. Since then, the UN has fought for increased security and against corruption and conflicts, which were reduced by democratizing and localizing the political power. The major unsolved problems evolve around citizenship and landownership issues. Commissions have been set up to solve these, but they lack funding, political support and a clear mandate. The 100,000 soldiers that became unemployed after the war ended are also causing concerns in a newly stabilized country that essentially lacks legitimacy among its people. L. Pitkaniemi

For years, the international community has been involved in state-building exercises in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. The positive effects from these efforts are, however, not easily observed on the ground. The conventional approach to state-building that seeks to rebuild so-called 'failed states' from the capital area towards the hinterland is therefore still in dire need of rethinking. What both these cases display, albeit in different ways, is the need for a building-block approach that actively engages with realities on the ground; building the state from the hinterland towards the capital and not the other way around. In the case of Somalia, this is based on the observation that the breakaway 'state' of Somaliland is a much more stable and state like entity than the rest of Somalia. Even if this is less easily observed in Eastern Congo, the argument is attractive as it draws our attention to local configurations of power. Such an approach would therefore be more context specific and sensitive, recognising that states are the outcome of relatively unique historical and social processes, and that international interventions must be fine-tuned to these realties. Adapted from the source document.

Provides an introduction to the history of modern Somalia followed by an analysis of the piracy epidemic that started in 2003. Political scientists consider Somalia the archetype of a failed state. The country is essentially divided in Somaliland, Puntland, Southern Somalia, and a number of smaller chiefdoms lacking a central regime and functioning government institutions. While pirate activity started already in 1991, it took twelve years before the activity became professional and well organized. After capturing several larger ships, such as Sirius Star and MV Faina, the pirates have been able to purchase better weaponry and communication devices making them even larger threats to passing ships. L. Pitkaniemi

Since the end of the Liberian civil war in August 2003 the international community has been 'making plans' for Liberia. However, it rarely questioned whether these plans were in accordance with the political and economic logic of the peace agreement and the subsequent transitional government. The consequence was that corruption continued and a much more intrusive economic management plan was established. The Governance and Economic Management Assistance Programme (gemap) is supposed to combat corruption and facilitate good governance, but it also limits the range of policy options for the new democratically elected government of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. The irony is that the best and most legitimate government that Liberia has ever had is subject to stronger external control than any of its predecessors. The probability that this scheme will remain sustainable when donor interest shifts elsewhere is low, and what is needed is a more pragmatic approach that draws a wider segment of Liberian society into anti-corruption management and creates checks and balances between them. Adapted from the source document.

The conflicts in Liberia, Eastern DRC and Cote d'Ivoire can be "read" as "wars of modernity" as they are concerned with the composition of their respective polities: who is a citizen and who is not. However, these contemporary conflicts are deeply embedded in a long history of violence: integral to this history is the issue of land. Citizenship in itself does not secure access to land, but at the very least it allows those with this status a legitimate entry to the competition for land. There is therefore a direct link between contested citizenship and land rights issues. Drawing on fieldwork material from the above-mentioned countries, this article will show how localised identity narratives under certain circumstances destroy as well as reformulate national identities, and that insight from ethnographic work on autochthonic issues can help us understand conflicts in a broad range of African countries. Adapted from the source document.

The conflicts in Liberia, Eastern DRC and Côte d'Ivoire can be "read" as "wars of modernity" as they are concerned with the composition of their respective polities: who is a citizen and who is not. However, these contemporary conflicts are deeply embedded in a long history of violence: integral to this history is the issue of land. Citizenship in itself does not secure access to land, but at the very least it allows those with this status a legitimate entry to the competition for land. There is therefore a direct link between contested citizenship and land rights issues. Drawing on fieldwork material from the above-mentioned countries, this article will show how localised identity narratives under certain circumstances destroy as well as reformulate national identities, and that insight from ethnographic work on autochthonic issues can help us understand conflicts in a broad range of African countries.