Escaping the Conflict Trap? (Hardback)

"The most comprehensive analysis yet of why Liberia and Sierra Leone emerged from over a decade of warfare while Congo remains mired in conflict. The authors draw on years of clear-headed observation and direct policy engagement as they challenge the increasingly popular claim that international intervention in civil wars inevitably leads to quagmire." —William Reno, Northwestern University

While fragile countries around the world have reverted to conflict soon after the achievement of a purported peace deal, how have both Liberia and Sierra Leone maintained a relative, if sometimes precarious, stability for the more than two decades since their civil wars ended? 

Alan Doss and David Harris draw on their combined experiences as a practitioner and an academic to explore the elements of the peace processes in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the roles and activities of key local, regional, and international actors, and the structural factors that aided or hindered the progress of peacebuilding. They also compare their two core cases with that of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Assessing how institutions, polices, and political choices interacted across decades, they reflect on the significance of their findings for ongoing and future efforts to end civil wars.