The Evolution of Deadly Conflict in Liberia: From 'Paternaltarianism' to State Collapse

This book represents the first attempt to holistically document and analyze the causes of deadly conflict in Liberia from its founding to the present. It reconstructs and examines the root, operational, and catalytic causes of seventeen internal deadly conflicts that transpired in Liberia between 1822 and 2003, including the 1980 coup d’état against the Tolbert regime and the Liberian Civil War (1989-1997) (Great War). The book seeks to answer two primary questions: what are the historical causes of deadly conflict in Liberia, and to what extent has the evolution of settler nationalism contributed to the stimulation of conflict between settler and native Liberians?

To answer these questions, Levitt examines a continuum of circular causation among the state of affairs that led to the founding of the Liberian State, the evolution of settler authoritarianism and nationalism, and internal conflict. By analyzing these processes together, the causes of seventeen conflicts are revealed and thoroughly discussed. The book also has three major objectives: to determine the historical causes of deadly conflict in Liberia, in particular, the underlining historical phenomena responsible for birthing the Great War; to present an alternative framework to comprehend and examine the aged conflict dynamic between settler and indigenous Liberians, and within Liberian society itself; and to produce the first comprehensive study of deadly conflict in Liberia.

This book advantageously spans the fields of political science, history, international law, and peace and conflict studies; it is an excellent interdisciplinary choice.