TY - JOUR
T1 - Running for Office in the Aftermath of the Liberian Civil War
T2 - On Crisis, Continuity, and Reproduction1
AU - Bedert, Maarten
N1 - Funding Information: I gratefully acknowledge the input and comments from the other guest editors of this issue. I thank the reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions and the journal editors for their coordinating efforts. Funding for this project was provided by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle (Saale), and I conducted research as a member of the research group Integration and Conflict along the Upper Guinea Coast. Publisher Copyright: © The Trustees of Indiana University.
PY - 2022/6/1
Y1 - 2022/6/1
N2 - This article deals with the dynamics of continuity and change articulated during the presidential and representative elections in the aftermath of the Liberian civil war (1989–2003). Elections are often presented as pivotal moments, in which a violent past is left behind and an era of peace begins. Using interviews with politicians and voters, as well as observations during the 2011 and 2017 electoral campaigns, I describe how candidates reproduce local political practices in new contexts. The dichotomy between apparent continuities and radical change, as articulated during elections, is interpreted by considering the process of transitional justice, a long history of electoral violence, and the prominence of autochthony, reciprocity, and secrecy in local politics.
AB - This article deals with the dynamics of continuity and change articulated during the presidential and representative elections in the aftermath of the Liberian civil war (1989–2003). Elections are often presented as pivotal moments, in which a violent past is left behind and an era of peace begins. Using interviews with politicians and voters, as well as observations during the 2011 and 2017 electoral campaigns, I describe how candidates reproduce local political practices in new contexts. The dichotomy between apparent continuities and radical change, as articulated during elections, is interpreted by considering the process of transitional justice, a long history of electoral violence, and the prominence of autochthony, reciprocity, and secrecy in local politics.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85132829445&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.4.02
DO - https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.68.4.02
M3 - Article
SN - 0001-9887
VL - 68
SP - 19
EP - 38
JO - Africa Today
JF - Africa Today
IS - 4
ER -