‘Taylor must go’ – the strategy of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy

2019

Civil Wars

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This article investigates research brokers and commodification of information. When combined with inherently asymmetric research relationships and successful gatekeeping, brokers create demand and become indispensable. Potential negative effects of brokerage and commodification of information are discussed through experiences studying former combatants in Liberia. There bargains with brokers who could facilitate access to this hidden population resulted in a vicious circle as brokers confirmed what researchers wanted to hear. The attention to this issue was first brought by subsequent ethnography and participant observation, which also offer the promise of an ethically defensible way of collecting information.

Section: Researching Former Combatants In Liberiamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Lacking any other means of influence, they claim that they still exert authority over former combatants. In reality, past election results alone prove that the influence of most of these actors waned fast in the postconflict (Käihkö 2015). 3.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On Brokers, Commodification of Information and Liberian Former Combatants

2019

Civil Wars

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“…Yet as many armed groups are unable to rely on strong state and ideology such as nationalism, they face the practical conundrum of how to form cohesion. With a number of different alternatives available, it is especially weak armed groups that need to dedicate significant attention in their strategies to this task (Käihkö, 2015b). Yet without a broader perspective that encompasses micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, it is be difficult to understand how such actors go about this.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadening the Perspective on Military Cohesion

2018

Armed Forces & Society

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It is difficult to underestimate the importance of cohesion for armed groups or organizations specialized and engaged in organized violence. This article argues that the recent debate on military cohesion has been far too narrow as it focused on Western state militaries during the 20th and 21st centuries, and even then only on the microlevel. It is necessary to broaden the perspective in order to construct theories that encompass even the vast majority of armed groups—the non-Western, nonstate, and nonmodern. This article advocates two ways of doing so: the investigation of cases that belong to these three types and broadening analysis to two new levels of analysis—the meso-level of armed groups and the macro-level, which contains state and society. Cohesion is established through harmonizing these three levels, which necessitates including them in the analysis in the first place.

“…After the waning of the war in Sierra Leone in 2001-2002, many fighters joined Charles Taylor's militia umbrella and the rebels of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). In there they were again accused of behaving in ways considered inappropriate to the local context by both the LURD rebels, 66 as well as the government militias. 67 Whereas war in Liberia and Sierra Leone portrayed some similarities, the war in Liberia is often described as a "tribal conflict" (in Liberian English ethnic groups are colloquially called "tribes") by Liberian civilians and former fighters alike, whereas the one in Sierra Leone is more often connected to atrocities.…”

Section: Liberia and Sierra Leonementioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing war in West Africa (and beyond)

2018

Comparative Strategy

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This article investigates the variation of the conduct of war in three Mano River countries in West Africa-Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A theoretical framework that views war as an institution is provided to explain this variation. While an existing idea in social sciences, to date it has largely been used to understand historical case. This article extends its scope to encompass non-state actors and the modern era through an account of how war was constructed in the Mano River region. The idea of war as an institution highlights the value of cultural sociological investigations of war. As institutions structure action, the framework offered carries immediate consequences for strategic thought.