The Dog That Did Not Bark: Why Has Sierra Leone Not Returned to War After Peacekeepers Left?

Abstract

This chapter sets out to solve the mystery of why Sierra Leone has remained relatively stable 14 years after peacekeepers left the country in 2006, and 18 years after the end of a devastating 11-year civil war in which an estimated 70,000 people died. In doing so, Sierra Leone has defied the fate of so many fragile and conflict-prone states: it has not returned to war, as do more than half of all countries within only five years of a peace settlement. This despite myriad socio-economic challenges, of the kind that often leads to a recurrence of violence and unrest. In investigating this mystery, the chapter highlights how domestic, subregional, and external actors muddled through and improvised one of the rare peacebuilding success stories in Africa.