When the State Fails

Studies on Intervention in the Sierra Leone Civil War

Edited by Tunde Zack-Williams

Ebook (VitalSource) - £27.99

Publication date:

05 December 2011

Length of book:

304 pages

Publisher

Pluto Press

ISBN-13: 9781849646215

Compared with Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, the recent western intervention in Sierra Leone has been largely forgotten. When the State Fails rectifies this, providing a comprehensive and critical analysis of the intervention.

The civil war in Sierra Leone began in 1991 and was declared officially over in 2002 after UK, UN and regional African military intervention. Some claimed it as a case of successful humanitarian intervention. The authors in this collection provide an informed analysis of the impact of the intervention on democracy, development and society in Sierra Leone. The authors take a particularly critical view of the imposition of neoliberalism after the conflict.

As NATO intervention in Libya shows the continued use of external force in internal conflicts, When the State Fails is a timely book for all students and scholars interested in Africa and the question of 'humanitarian intervention'.
'This volume by Sierra Leonean academics offers wide-ranging insights on the causes and dynamics of the Sierra Leone conflict. It provides valuable information on security sector reform and the role of external actors in peace building'