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31. Lost in translation: why Nigeria's police don't implement democratic reforms

Author:
Alice Hills
Publication Date:
07-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Chatham House
Abstract:
The transfer of western norms and practices to police forces in West Africa is a substantial part of a billion-dollar business. Out of the US$452 million the Obama administration requested for law enforcement and narcotics control in Africa during the financial year 2010, US$8 million was allocated to United States officials and contractors for police training, infrastructure and equipment in Liberia alone, while between 2002 and 2009 the United Kingdom channelled some £37 million to reforming or improving the security and justice sector of Nigeria, a key anchor state for UK policies in sub-Saharan Africa (hereafter Africa).
Topic:
Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Liberia, and Nigeria

32. Capability Traps in Development: How Initiatives to Improve Administrative Systems Succeed at Failing

Author:
Michael Woolcock, Matt Andrews, and Lant Pritchett
Publication Date:
06-2012
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
PRISM
Institution:
Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), National Defense University
Abstract:
In many nations today, the state has little capability to implement even basic functions such as security, policing, regulation, or core service delivery. Enhancing this capability, especially in fragile states, is a long-term task. As we document in this article, countries such as Haiti and Liberia will take many decades to reach even a moderate capability country such as India, and millennia to reach the capability of Singapore. Short-term programmatic efforts to build administrative capability in these countries are thus unlikely to demonstrate actual success, yet billions of dollars continue to be spent on such activities. What techniques enable states to “buy time” to enable reforms to work, mask nonaccomplishment, or actively resist or deflect the internal and external pressures for improvement? How do donors and recipient countries manage to engage in the logics of “development” for so long and yet consistently acquire so little administrative capability? In short, how do initiatives to modernize administrative systems so often succeed at failing?
Political Geography:
India, Haiti, Liberia, and Singapore

33. Sexual and gender-based violence in Liberia and the case for a comprehensive approach to the rule of law

Author:
Niels Nagelhus Schia and Benjamin de Carvalho
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of International Relations and Development
Institution:
Central and East European International Studies Association
Abstract:
Since the end of the conflict in Liberia, one of the main priorities of the UN Mission (UNMIL), UN agencies, NGOs and INGOs has been to address the very high level of sexual violence against women and children, often known through the 'SGBV' acronym (Sexual and Gender-Based Violence).This focus has led to a number of initiatives from the international community, including a joint UN and Government of Liberia national strategy on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (Government of Liberia 2009); the creation of a ministry for gender issues; and a number of campaigns aimed at engendering awareness of the problem.
Topic:
Security and United Nations
Political Geography:
Liberia

34. Local and National Ownership in Post-Conflict Liberia Foreign and Domestic Inside Out?

Author:
Niels Nagelhus Schia and Benjamin de Carvalho
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The paper takes as its starting point the difficulties encountered in implementing policies aimed at fostering local and national ownership in peacekeeping activities. Especially important in this respect are training programmes aimed at sensitizing people working in peacekeeping operations to the inherent difficulties of local ownership in post-conflict environments. The account offered here is an ethnography of local ownership in a specific context. Through such accounts, we argue, training programmes can go beyond emphasizing the difficulties relating to local ownership, and instead emphasize how these can be solved in different contexts, on a case-bycase basis. By offering an ethnographical account of practices of local ownership in Liberian ministries, problematizing the role played by international embedded experts, we argue that where you stand may actually depend on where you sit. In a difficult post-conflict environment, local ownership in the initial phases may not be possible without borrowing capacity from the outside. In the end, the important question may be not who does the work, but whose perspectives underlie the policies that are adopted and implemented.
Topic:
Climate Change and Peacekeeping
Political Geography:
Liberia

35. The Redistribution of Resources in Internationalised Intra-State Peace Processes by Comprehensive Peace Agreements and Security Council Resolutions

Author:
Cindy Daase
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Institution:
The Goettingen Journal of International Law
Abstract:
The (illegal) exploitation and (bad) management of high value resources like timber, diamonds, gold, minerals and oil constitute key-factors for the inflammation, continuation and termination of numerous intra-state conflicts. Since the 1990s these conflicts have been increasingly settled by the conclusion of comprehensive peace agreements between the conflicted state and belligerent non-state parties. At the example of the Lomé, Accra and Ouagadougou Agreement, which were negotiated to terminate the conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire , the paper describes and analyzes whether and how these agreements addressed the redistribution of conflict-resources during the peace process. In the course of this documentation, the paper finds a strong involvement of the UN Security Council when it comes to the redistribution of resources and the implementation of all three agreements that goes beyond addressing an immediate threat to peace and security. Focusing on this involvement of the Security Council to exert a strong pull towards the compliance of the parties with these agreements, the paper will discuss the legal nature of the example peace agreements and of the specific obligations concerning the redistribution of resources. The paper finds that, under certain circumstances, internationalized comprehensive peace agreements, with a strong endorsement and involvement of the Security Council, can create effective legal obligations for the parties with respect to the redistribution and treatment of resources during the transition from conflict to peace.
Political Geography:
Liberia and Sierra Leone

36. Liberia: Progress Made and Challenges for the Future

Author:
Ellen Margrethe Løj
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Council of American Ambassadors
Abstract:
As Liberia reaches almost eight years of unbroken peace since the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) deployed in 2003, I had the opportunity in March 2011 to brief the Security Council on the remarkable progress the country is making, and highlighted Liberia's need for continued support from the international community. Amid its numerous challenges, and as the country strives to consolidate peace, the support of the international community is paramount to consolidate the outstanding achievements of the Liberian people.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
United States, United Nations, and Liberia

37. Constraints to Domestic Enterprise Financing in Post-Conflict Liberia

Author:
John Gorlorwulu
Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
Countries emerging from protracted and devastating conflicts are often seen as needing significant external intervention in their financial markets to rebuild their private sector and promote quick and effective economic recovery. Despite enormous challenges, the provision of credit or the implementation of various lending schemes often dominate efforts to promote domestic private-sector recovery in the immediate aftermath of conflict. This approach raises a number of questions: First, how effective are loan programs in the development of domestic enterprises in the immediate aftermath of conflicts? Second, can loan programs work without significant improvements in the business climate? How sensitive is the design of lending programs to the success of domestic enterprise development projects following devastating conflicts? This paper explores the experience of the Liberian Enterprise Development Finance Company, which was established in 2007 to provide medium-and long-term credit to small and medium domestic enterprises. In addition to shedding light on the challenges such an enterprise faces in a post conflict environment, the paper explores whether the strategies employed are effective and if there are opportunities for effecting remedial changes that could improve the outcomes of such a program in post-conflict environments generally.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Civil War, Development, Foreign Aid, and Foreign Direct Investment
Political Geography:
Africa and Liberia

38. Local Ownership in Practice: Justice System Reform in Kosovo and Liberia

Author:
Leopold von Carlowitz
Publication Date:
03-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
Achieving local ownership is crucial for the success of justice reform programmes as part of international rule of law assistance and security sector reform (SSR) activities. In his 2004 report on the rule of law and transitional justice, the UN Secretary-General emphasized that 'Ultimately, no rule of law reform, justice reconstruction, or transitional justice initiative imposed from the outside can hope to be successful or sustainable.' He claimed that the United Nations 'must learn better how to respect and support local ownership, local leadership and a local constituency of reform, while at the same time remaining faithful to the United Nations norms and standards.'
Topic:
Privatization, United Nations, and Law
Political Geography:
Kosovo, Balkans, and Liberia

39. After the Fall: Leaders, Leadership and the Challenges of Post-Conflict Peacebuilding

Author:
Alan Doss
Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Post-conflict peacebuilding efforts have largely focused on policy prescriptions for peacebuilding rather than the leadership qualities required for success. This paper by contrast looks at the leadership dimension of peacebuilding based largely on the author's experiences over the last decade in four, conflict-ridden African states: Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It offers some insights into the role played by the national leaders of these four coun-tries in adapting and shaping the peacebuilding environment and draws some conclusions about the context and the personal qualities – and failings – that may contribute to success or failure in peacebuilding. The paper also considers leadership within the international community and makes some suggestions on what kind of international leadership can best help the peacebuilding process.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia

40. Liberia: How Sustainable Is the Recovery?

Publication Date:
08-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
Liberia's October 2011 general and presidential elections, the second since civil war ended in 2003, are an opportunity to consolidate its fragile peace and nascent democracy. Peaceful, free and fair elections depend on how well the National Elections Commission (NEC) handles the challenges of the 23 August referendum on constitutional amendments and opposition perceptions of bias toward the president's Unity Party (UP). The NEC, the government, political parties, presidential candidates, civil society, media and international partners each have roles to play to strengthen trust in the electoral process. They should fight the temptation to treat the elections as not crucial for sustaining the progress made since the civil war. But even after good elections five factors will be critical to lasting peace: a more convincing fight against corruption; deeper commitment to transforming Liberia with a new breed of reform-minded political players; sustained international engagement in supporting this more ambitious transformation; economic development; and regional stability, particularly in Côte d'Ivoire.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Civil Society, Democratization, Development, Political Economy, and Mass Media
Political Geography:
Africa and Liberia