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Recent Posts
- In between homes – the in-between existence of refugees in transit in Eastleigh, Nairobi, by Lena Johansson (master student at Uppsala University)
- Congosa politics: Rumours and elections in Sierra Leone, by Diana Szanto
- Elective Affinities: Fragility and Injustice in the Field, by Luisa Enria
- Can you imagine? Reflections on the SL elections and implications for penal policy and practice, by Andrew Jefferson and Luisa Schneider
- Sierra Leone General Elections 2018 – A personal diary, by Diana Szanto
- Urban kinship: the micro-politics of proximity and relatedness in African cities, by Jesper Bjarnesen and Mats Utas
- Fragile Security or Fatale Liaisons? Reflections on 2 March 2018 Attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, by Sten Hagberg
- Jostling for power: Sierra Leone’s election runoff, by Luisa Enria and Jamie Hitchen
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Category Archives: Big Men
Fragile Security or Fatale Liaisons? Reflections on 2 March 2018 Attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, by Sten Hagberg
On Friday 2 March 2018 around 10 o’clock, two coordinated of terrorist attacks took place in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The first attack involved gunmen seeking to enter the Embassy of France, exchanging fire with soldiers from Burkinabe … Continue reading
Generation Terrorists: The Politics of Youth and the Gangs of Freetown, by Kieran Mitton
Youth at Risk – Youth as Risk On the evening of the 15th February, six leading presidential candidates for the Sierra Leone presidential elections took to the stage. Over three hours of a live broadcasted debate, each answered questions about … Continue reading
Posted in Big Men, democratisation, Election violence, Elections, Social protest, Youth
Tagged Sierra Leone
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How John Richardson Joined the NPFL: Charles Taylor’s Confidant Speaks on Liberian Politics and American Warmongering, by Brooks Marmon
One of Charles Taylor’s best known and most eloquent defenders is John T. Richardson, a Liberian architect, who continues to speak with the former Liberian President two to three times a week. Richardson, an American trained architect who launched his … Continue reading
Posted in Big Men, Conflict, Conflict economies, Governance, Perspectives on Power, politics, Post Conflict
Tagged Liberia
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The Ties that Bind: Ex-Military Command Structures as a Foundation for Peace or Source for Insecurity? by Anders Themnér
The presence of large groups of ex-combatants is often seen as a major challenge to post-civil war stability. Experiences of ex-fighters engaging in different forms of violence have prompted policy-makers and scholars (and to be frank, at times also myself) … Continue reading
Posted in Big Men, Conflict, Conflict economies, Excombatants, Governance, Informal networks, Mid-Level Commanders
Tagged Liberia
3 Comments
Meles Zenawi and Africa’s Second Fiddles (guest post by Declan Galvin)
The Death of a Big Man It was reported that Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi died on August 20th at the age of 57, a relatively young age for an African dictator. Zenawi had been the de facto leader of … Continue reading
50 years.
Charles Taylor will spend the rest of his life in prison (unless someone decides to assist his escape again :)) for aiding and abetting war crimes in Sierra Leone. As a comparison Issa Sesay, one of the senior commanders of … Continue reading
African Conflicts and Informal Power: Big Men and Networks
A book that I edited was released by Zed books about a month ago – have been too busy posting anything about it, but here is a link. There are great chapters by equally great researchers. Hope it will interest … Continue reading
Posted in Big Men, Informal networks
4 Comments
Mats Utas 