Civil war and state formation : the political economy of war and peace in Liberia / Felix Gerdes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gerdes, Felix.

Series:

Micropolitics of violence ; v. 9.

Mikropolitik der Gewalt = Micropolitics of violence ; [v. 9]

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Presidents.

Liberia--Politics and government--1980-.

Liberia.

Politics and government.

Liberia--Economic conditions--1980-.

Economic conditions.

Liberia--History--Civil War, 1989-1996.

History.

Liberia--History--Civil War, 1999-2003.

Taylor, Charles Ghankay.

Presidents--Liberia--Biography.

Economic history.

Political science.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 291 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm.

Other Title:

Political economy of war and peace in Liberia

Place of Publication:

Frankfurt ; New York : Campus Verlag, [2013]

Summary:

Liberia was the scene of two devastating civil wars since late 1989 and became widely considered a failed state. By contrast, the country is frequently described as a success story since the international professional Ellen Johnson Sirleaf assumed the presidency following democratic elections in 2005. The book investigates the political economy of civil war and democratic peace and puts the developments into historical perspective. The author argues that the civil wars did not represent the breakdown of the state but exhibited dynamics characteristic of state formation. His analysis of continuity and change in Liberia's political evolution details both political progress and persistent structural deficits of the polity. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 War, Peace, and Young States 8

2.1 The State and Other Types of Political Organization 9

2.1.1 The Importance of Variance in (Personal) Authority 9

2.1.2 Non-legitimate Domination 15

2.1.3 The Empirical State 17

2.2 State Formation, State Erosion and Society 19

2.2.1 State-Building and State Decay 19

2.2.2 Society and the State 26

2.2.3 A Note on Sequences of Domination 29

3 The First Liberian Civil War: The Rise of Charles Taylor 31

3.1 Collusion, Competition and Military Combat 34

3.1.1 The Actors 34

3.1.2 Elimination Contests 39

3.1.3 Winning a War by Way of Elections 56

3.1.4 Summary: Civil War as State-Building 59

3.2 Political Economy of the NPFL 60

3.2.1 Creation of the NPFL and Imposition of Taylor 60

3.2.2 Politics of the NPFL: Administration and Legitimacy 64

3.2.3 Discipline, Repression and Material Interests 73

3.2.4 Economics of the NPFL 79

3.3 Taylor's Adversaries and their Weaknesses 104

3.3.1 The Doe Government 106

3.3.2 The Interim Government of National Unity 109

3.3.3 The Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia 115

3.3.4 The ECOWAS Cease-Fire Monitoring Group 117

3.3.5 The United Liberation Movements 123

3.3.6 The Liberia Peace Council 128

3.4 Summary: Taylor and his Rivals 131

3.5 From Warlord to Statesman: Charles Taylor as President 132

3.5.1 Transplanting a System of Domination 134

3.5.1 The Security Sector 139

3.5.3 Revenue Generation in Charles Taylor's Liberia 140

3.5.4 Key Features of Liberia Inc. 150

3.6 Summary: The Rise of Charles Taylor 152

4 Taylor's Fall and the Dawn of a Neo-patrimonial Democracy 154

4.1 The Government: Cracks in the System 154

4.1.1 Disintegration of the Security Sector 154

4.1.2 Repression and the Erosion of a Patrimonial System 158

4.1.3 An Aggressive Regional Policy 161

4.1.4 The Economics of Taylor's Fall 165

4.1.5 The Final Events 167

4.2 The Rebels: LURD and MODEL 168

4.3 The National Transitional Government of Liberia 172

4.3.1 The Erosion of the Former Regime 175

4.3.2 LURD and MODEL: Rebels Falling Apart 182

4.3.3 Political Parties and Civil Society: Dashed Hopes 187

4.4 Elections and a New Regime 191

4.4.1 Presidential Elections: Warring Parties 192

4.4.2 The Leading Candidates and their Networks 194

4.4.3 The Legislature 205

4.5 Liberia under Johnson Sirleaf: Rebuilding the State? 217

4.5.1 Anatomy of a Post-War Regime 218

4.5.2 Major Issues in Institutional Development 222

4.5.3 An Anti-Corruption Policy? 226

4.5.4 New Elections-Reconfigured Alliances 231

4.6 Political Economy of the New Liberia 235

4.6.1 A Peacekeeping and Reconstruction Economy 235

4.6.2 Natural Resources and Political Control 237

4.7 From Taylor to Johnson Sirleaf: Major Issues 249

5 Conclusion 251.

Notes:

"This book is a revised and updated version of [the author's] doctoral thesis ... submitted in November 2010 at the University of Hamburg"--Pref.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [263]-284) and index.

ISBN:

9783593398921

3593398923

OCLC:

858073000

Publisher Number:

99959084800