Peacebuilding, Power, and Politics in Africa

12. Peacebuilding through Statebuilding in West Africa? The Cases of Sierra Leone and Liberia

232 T W E L V E Peacebuilding through Statebuilding in West Africa? The Cases of Sierra Leone and Liberia C o m f o r t e r o When conflict broke out in liberia on december 2, 1989, commentators did not forecast the subsequent instability, political crisis, and civil war that would consume neighboring Sierra leone in 1991 and Côte d’ivoire in 2002. the economic Community of West African States (eCoWAS) led the first regional peacekeeping mission to liberia in August 1990. it was later joined by the united nations (un) in efforts to end violent conflict and begin the complex process of rebuilding in all three neighboring countries. After two decades, regional and international actors in these West African countries have contributed to new trends and practices in the global peacebuilding enterprise. this chapter examines the wide-ranging international peacebuilding initiatives that have spanned two West African countries, Sierra leone and liberia. by exploring a subcomponent of the peacebuilding experience in West Africa, namely statebuilding, the chapter considers the tensions, dilemmas, and successes at the heart of the peacebuilding endeavor in both countries. Although commonalities exist in the cases of Sierra leone and liberia, they provide different insights into postconflict statebuilding. As i argue here, the process of statebuilding in West Africa provides a cautionary tale of the limitations of the global peacebuilding enterprise. international intervention was aggressive and robust in Sierra leone and liberia.1 At one level, intense partnerships 233 Peacebuilding through Statebuilding in West Africa? between national actors in Sierra leone and liberia and the international donor community resulted in significant progress in rebuilding some aspects of the state in both countries. yet at another level, tensions between national, regional, and international actors often led to local elites either resisting or rethinking and reorienting external ideas and partnerships. the experience of statebuilding in both countries demonstrates the limitations of external intervention, especially when there is a clash between national ideas and practices, and regional and global programs and strategies. the State, Statebuilding, and Conflict in West Africa Central to the peacebuilding enterprise is the attempt to establish conditions that prevent the return to conflict. following the end of the Cold War, large-scale international efforts took place to help bring peace to countries emerging from conflict. key lessons learned from international peacebuilding efforts in the 1990s, of which liberia and Sierra leone were recipients, was that the quick-fix approach to ending conflicts and holding national elections was insufficient to prevent the recurrence of conflicts. by the late 1990s and early 2000s, major discussions on improving the performance of the un and other multilateral institutions for peacebuilding had evolved. it was agreed that if durable peace was to take hold in countries emerging from conflict, international peacebuilding strategies required radical reorientation. this reorientation focused on a more “macro-level approach” that placed greater emphasis on constructing or strengthening the state and its institutions . it was a departure from the “micro-level approach” of earlier peacebuilding efforts, which focused on technical quick fixes and the supervision of elections. As dominik Zaum notes in chapter 2 of this volume, and as roland Paris and timothy Sisk have noted elsewhere, this macro-level statebuilding approach is not synonymous with peacebuilding , nor is it an attempt to supplant peacebuilding. Statebuilding is a subcomponent of the peacebuilding enterprise,2 which is part of a “larger effort to create the conditions for a durable peace and human development in countries that are just emerging from war.”3 Statebuilding is a complex project in the African context. Historically , African states were created to serve the political and economic interests of colonial forces. the survival of the colonial territories was reinforced through authoritarian governance, leading to the subjugation and exploitation of the population. Colonial authorities relied on 234 CoMFort ero force and violence to protect their imperialist objectives. Colonialism also created alliances between local elites, co-opted to solidify colonial power and administration over territories. Consequently, the “state” was largely an alien construct, lacking the legitimacy to mobilize or extract cohesive groups from among the indigenous populations. independence in Africa did not bring a fundamental transformation in the structure of the state. instead, many states assumed characteristics of the colonial state—existing primarily to serve the interests of small but powerful elite groups. the state retained its forceful authoritarian character. like the colonial leaders they took over from...