Sierra Leone : a political history / David Harris.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harris, David (David John), 1963- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sierra Leone--Politics and government--1896-1961.

Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone--Politics and government--1961-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Sierra Leone came to world attention in the 1990s when a catastrophic civil war linked to the diamond trade was reported globally. This fleeting and particular interest, however, obscured two crucial processes in this small West African state. On the one hand, while the civil war was momentous, brutal and affected all Sierra Leoneans, it was also just one element in the long and faltering attempt to build a nation and state given the country's immensely problematic pre-colonial and British colonial legacies. On the other, the aftermath of the war precipitated a huge international effort to construct a 'liberal peace', with mixed results, and thus made Sierra Leone a laboratory for post-Cold War interventions. Sierra Leone examines 225 years of its history and fifty years of independence, placing state- society relations at the centre of an original and revealing investigation of those who have tried to rule or change Sierra Leone and its inhabitants and the responses engendered. It interweaves the historical narrative with sketches of politicians, anecdotes, the landscape and environment and key turning-points, alongside theoretical and other comparisons with the rest of Africa. It is a new contribution to the debate for those who already know Sierra Leone and a solid point of entry for those who wish to know.

Contents:

The rise and wane of Krio dominance, 1787/1951

Key players in a deceptively quiet decolonisation, 1951/1961

Immediate and severe challenges: democracy and coups, 1961/1968

The choices of Siaka Stevens: violence, patronage and the one-party state, 1968/1991

Civil war and the incendiary debates over its provenance, 1991/1996

The escalation and ending of the civil war, 1996/2002

The post-conflict dispensation: plus ça change? 2002/2007

Political shifts in Sierra Leone: elections, liberal reform, society and the new mutlipolar world, 2007/2012.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780190238056

0190238054

9780190237943

0190237945

OCLC:

891386562