Probing the roles of governance and greed in civil strife in West Africa

Abstract

Purpose - This chapter aims to explore the causes of civil war in West Africa, including the perspectives of those directly involved. both those involved voluntarily and those involved against their will. To this end, we examine the three contiguous war-afflicted coastal countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast and as a counterweight, Ghana which has escaped civil war. Methodology - Brief country case studies are used to explore the motivations of leaders and followers which often diverge. This chapter examines four West African countries: • Sierra Leone and Liberia, which have suffered classic brutal, 'third war' civil wars (Holsti, K. (Ed.). (1996). Wars of the third kind. In: The state, war and the state of war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). • Ivory Coast, once seen as the West African 'beacon of stability' (Royce, E. (2003). Testimony. US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa, 2nd February, p. 12) but now suffering a seventh year of civil conflict. • Ghana, the counter case, which has so far survived multiple military coups without descending into national conflagration.