1,785,947 research outputs found
Returning culture to peacebuilding : contesting the liberal peace in Sierra Leone
No full textThis thesis investigates the advantages and limitations of applying culture to the analysis of violent conflict and peacebuilding, with a particular focus on liberal peacebuilding in Sierra Leone. While fully aware of the critique of the concept of culture in terms of its uses for the production of difference and ‘otherness,’ it also seeks to respond to the critique of liberal peacebuilding on the account of its low sensitivity towards local culture, which allegedly undermines the peace effort. After a careful examination of the terms of discussion about culture enabled by theoretical approaches to conflict in Chapter 2, the thesis presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of cultural aspects of conflict and peace based on the processes and effects of meaning-generation (Chapter 3), developing the conceptual apparatus and vocabulary for the subsequent empirical study. Instead of bracketing out the recursive nature of cultural theorising, the developed approach embraces the recursive dynamics which arise as a result of cultural ‘embeddedness’ of the analyst and the processes which s/he seeks to elucidate, mirroring similar dynamics in the cultural production of meaning and knowledge. The framework of ‘embedded cultural enquiry’ is then used to analyse the practices of liberal peacebuilding as a particular culture, which shapes the interaction of the liberal peace with its ‘subjects’ and critics as well as framing its reception of the cultural problematic generally (Chapter 4). The application of the analytical framework to the case study investigates the interaction between the liberal peace and ‘local culture,’ offering an alternative reading of the conflict and peace process in Sierra Leone (Chapter 5). The study concludes that a greater attention to cultural meaning-making offers a largely untapped potential for peacebuilding, although any decisions with regard to its deployment will inevitably be made from within an inherently biased cultural perspective
Collective Action in Diverse Sierra Leone Communities
Full text linkScholars have pointed to ethnic and other social divisions as a leading cause of economic underdevelopment, due in part to their adverse effects on public good provision and collective action. We investigate this issue in post-war Sierra Leone, one of the world’s poorest countries. To address concerns over endogenous local ethnic composition, and in an advance over most existing work, we use an instrumental variables strategy relying on historical ethnic diversity data from the 1963 Sierra Leone Census. We find that local ethnic diversity is not associated with worse local public goods provision across a variety of outcomes, regression specifications, and diversity measures, and that these “zeros” are precisely estimated. We investigate the role that two leading mechanisms proposed in the literature – enforcement of collective action by strong local government authorities, and the existence of a common national identity and language – in generating these perhaps surprising findings.
Competitiveness assessment of tourism in Sierra Leone : a cluster-based approach
Full text linkSeven years out of brutal conflict, Sierra Leone is now a peaceful and stable country. Yet, its strides toward economic recovery and competitiveness have been modest even in sectors such as tourism, which used to be a major generator of foreign exchange revenues prior to the conflict. This paper presents a cluster-based analysis of the tourism sector in Sierra Leone. The analysis shows that tourism in Sierra Leone draws entirely on basic factor conditions such as natural endowments; high-end lodging, catering, and entertainment services are virtually nonexistent. The cluster mapping exercise reveals that several non-profit organizations are present and active within the Sierra Leone tourism cluster but that the role of commercial enterprises has been somewhat limited. A critical mass of basic service providers has emerged over time, but their functions are often hindered by the absence of a market-based incentive regime and weaknesses in backbone infrastructure services. There is a mismatch of effort by the public and private sectors. An important policy implication arising from the analysis is for Sierra Leone to initiate a joint action among tourism entrepreneurs and policymakers to develop a coherent business strategy toward overcoming the bottlenecks of skill deficiency, policy ineffectiveness, and lack of infrastructure and market access.Cultural Policy,Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Cultural Heritage&Preservation,Tourism and Ecotourism,Accommodation&Tourism Industry
Is the International Community Helping to Recreate the Pre-Conditions for War in Sierra Leone?
Full text linkSierra Leone, conflict, government, aid, corruption
Post-conflict transition and development in Sierra Leone: a case for the transformative-justice model
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The focus of this mini-dissertation is the Sierra Leone post-conflict transitional and development process. The civil war in Sierra Leone lasted some eight years before finally ending with the signing of the Lòme Peace Accord on 7 July 1999. This Accord outlined the post-conflict transitional instruments to be employed in Sierra Leone, namely an investigative truth commission and a legal tribunal referred to as the Special Court. After the completion of the mandates of these two instruments, many developmental gaps still existed in post-conflict Sierra Leonean society. This particularly applied to women who continued to suffer from widespread inequalities and discrimination. This thesis suggests that a model of transformative justice, which advocates an integrated approach to postconflict transitions and the development process in general, would better have served the needs of women in Sierra Leone
Literacy and Numeracy in Faith-Based and Government Schools in Sierra Leone
Full text linkThis paper provides a comparative assessment of the market share, reach to the poor, and performance of faith-based and public schools in Sierra Leone using data from the 2004 Integrated Household Survey. One-third of primary school students attend government schools and more than half are in faith-based government-assisted schools. Faith-based schools tend to serve children who live in poverty more than public schools, and after controlling for student and household characteristics and school choice, they also perform slightly better than public schools.Primary education; faith-based; poverty; performance; Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone 2015 Population and Housing Census Thematic Report on ...
No full textno OCLC record. Please include all subject headings if possible
Impact of rural poverty reduction strategies: The case of smallholders in Sierra Leone
Full text linkThe present analysis, which exploits one of the first empirical data collected from smallholders in Sierra Leone since the end of the civil war, compares the impact of two poverty reduction strategies targeting smallholders in Sierra Leone: support to rice production is compared with support to coffee and cocoa production in terms of sustainable income generation and contributing to macroeconomic stability and growth. Supporting rice production is intended to help the country regain self-sufficiency in its traditional principle staple. This will help towards improving food security and reducing dependency on volatile world market prices which, for example, with respect to the recent global spike has had dramatic effects on the lowest incomes. Support to cocoa and coffee production on the other hand aims to create and increase income by producing exportable commodities with higher value added. This research addresses strategic options most successful in improving food security and accelerating economic development. Additionally, bottlenecks in terms of inputs, infrastructure and social and economic factors are identified and analysed in order to isolate those which once improved will impact most on productivity. The results are discussed within a broader economic and socio-economic context in particular with respect to enhanced targeting and impact of Official Development Assistance.Agriculture, Poverty, Official Development Assistance, Sierra Leone, Food Security and Poverty, O1, Q1,
S. Leone, A. Iacoella, A. Fragale. 'Un fleuve de fleurs’. Progetto per il Concorso Internazionale 'd'Art Urbaine', 2006. 3°premio – menzione speciale per la qualità della vita sociale. / S. Leone, A. Iacoella, A. Fragale. 'Un fleuve de fleurs’. Project for the International Competition 'd'Art Urbaine', 2006. 3°place – special mention for the quality of life.
No full textS. Leone, A. Iacoella, A. Fragale. 'Un fleuve de fleurs’.
Progetto per il Concorso Internazionale 'd'Art Urbaine', 2006.
3°premio – menzione speciale per la qualità della vita sociale. /
S. Leone, A. Iacoella, A. Fragale. 'Un fleuve de fleurs’.
Project for the International Competition 'd'Art Urbaine', 2006.
3°place – special mention for the quality of life
The liberal peace and post-conflict peacebuilding in Africa : Sierra Leone
No full textThis thesis critiques liberal peacebuilding in Africa, with a particular focus on Sierra Leone. In particular, it examines the interface between the liberal peace and the “local”, the forms of agency that various local actors are expressing in response to the liberal peace and the hybrid forms of peace that are emerging in Sierra Leone. The thesis is built from an emerging critical literature that has argued for the need to shift from merely criticising liberal peacebuilding to examining local and contextual responses to it. Such contextualisation is crucial mainly because it helps us to develop a better understanding of the complex dynamics on the ground. The aim of this thesis is not to provide a new theory but to attempt to use the emerging insights from the critical scholarship through adopting the concept of hybridity in order to gain an understanding of the forms of peace that are emerging in post-conflict zones in Africa. This has not been comprehensively addressed in the context of post-conflict societies in Africa. Yet, much contemporary peace support operations are taking place in these societies that are characterised by multiple sources of legitimacy, authority and sovereignty.
The thesis shows that in Sierra Leone local actors – from state elites to chiefs to civil society to ordinary people on the “margins of the state” – are not passive recipients of the liberal peace. It sheds new light on how hybridity can be created “from below” as citizens do not engage in outright resistance, but express various forms of agency including partial acceptance and internalisation of some elements of the liberal peace that they find useful to them; and use them to make demands for reforms against state elites who they do not trust and often criticise for their pre-occupation with political survival and consolidation of power. Further, it notes that in Sierra Leone a “post-liberal peace” that is locally-oriented might emerge on the “margins of the state” where culture, custom and tradition are predominant, and where neo-traditional civil society organisations act as vehicles for both the liberal peace and customary peacebuilding while allowing locals to lead the peacebuilding process. In Sierra Leone, there are also peace processes that are based on custom that are operating in parallel to the liberal peace, particularly in remote parts of the country
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