Violent conflicts and governance challenges in West Africa: the case of the Mano River basin area
Posted: March 26, 2010 Filed under: Anarchy, Corruption, Democracy, Development Economics, Economic Freedom, Endogenous Rules, Peace, War Leave a comment »“The Mano River basin area has become a conflict zone, in which state failure and violence in Liberia has spread to Sierra Leone and the forest region of Guinea. This article traces the origins of the conflicts to governance failures in all three states, and analyses their incorporation into a single conflict system, orchestrated especially through the entrepreneurial abilities and ambitions of Charles Taylor. Peace settlements negotiated to end the violence in Liberia and Sierra Leone failed, both because of the misconceived power-sharing formula that they embodied, and because they failed to take account of the complex linkages between conflicts across the basin area. The way forward lies in a multilevel basin-wide approach, which seeks to move beyond the failed formula of attempting to reconstitute state power, in favour of constructing institutions of accountable democratic governance at multiple levels from the local level to the regional level and beyond.”
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=240015
The conflict mitigating effects of trade in the India-Pakistan case
Posted: March 24, 2010 Filed under: Democracy, Free Trade, Peace, War Leave a comment »“Globalization, or a greater openness to international trade with the rest of the world, is the most significant driver of a liberal peace, rather than a common democratic orientation.”
http://www.springerlink.com/content/4736rl34w118q532/
