A Sub-National Case Study of Liberal Peacebuilding in Sierra Leone and Liberia
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Department of Political Science McGill University Harmonizing Customary Justice with the Rule of Law? A Sub-national Case Study of Liberal Peacebuilding in Sierra Leone and Liberia By Mohamed Sesay A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Mohamed Sesay, 2016 ABSTRACT One of the greatest conundrums facing postwar reconstruction in non-Western countries is the resilience of customary justice systems whose procedural and substantive norms are often inconsistent with international standards. Also, there are concerns that subjecting customary systems to formal regulation may undermine vital conflict resolution mechanisms in these war-torn societies. However, this case study of peacebuilding in Sierra Leone and Liberia finds that primary justice systems interact in complex ways that are both mutually reinforcing and undermining, depending on the particular configuration of institutions, norms, and power in the local sub-national context. In any scenario of formal and informal justice interaction (be it conflictual or cooperative), it matters whether the state justice system is able to deliver accessible, affordable, and credible justice to local populations and whether justice norms are in line with people’s conflict resolution needs, priorities, and expectations. Yet, such interaction between justice institutions and norms is mediated by underlying power dynamics relating to local political authority and access to local resources. These findings were drawn from a six-month fieldwork that included collection of documentary evidence, observation of customary courts, and in-depth interviews with a wide range of stakeholders such as judicial officials, paralegals, traditional authorities, as well as local residents who seek justice in multiple forums. Comparative analysis was largely sub-national in order to capture multiple layers of complexity in the traditional authority structure as well as important regional variation in Sierra Leone and Liberia. RÉSUMÉ Une des plus grandes énigmes liées aux travaux de reconstruction à la suite d’hostilités dans les pays non occidentaux est la résilience des systèmes de droit coutumier dont les normes procédurales et substantives sont souvent incompatibles avec les normes internationales. Il y a également des préoccupations selon lesquelles la soumission des systèmes coutumiers aux règlements formels puisse miner les mécanismes vitaux de résolution des conflits dans ces sociétés ravagées par la guerre. Cependant, cette étude de cas de consolidation de la paix en Sierra Leone et au Libéria montre que des systèmes de justice traditionnels interagissent de façons complexes : ils soutiennent le processus d'une part et l'affaiblissent également, selon la configuration particulière des institutions, des normes, et des pouvoirs propres au contexte infranational local. Dans toute situation d'interaction entre la justice formelle et informelle (qu'il y ait conflit ou coopération), il importe que le système juridique d'État puisse offrir aux populations locales, des services juridiques accessibles, abordables et crédibles et que les normes de justice soient conformes à leurs besoins, à leurs priorités et à leurs attentes, en matière de résolution de conflits. Et pourtant, de telles interactions entre les institutions de justice et les normes sont soumises à la médiation par des dynamiques de pouvoir sous-jacentes, relatives aux autorités des politiques locales et à l'accès aux ressources locales. Les conclusions de cette étude ont été tirées d'un travail de recherche sur le terrain de six mois qui comprenait : la collecte d'éléments de preuve, l'observation des tribunaux coutumiers, des interviews en profondeurs avec un large éventail de parties intéressées, telles que des fonctionnaires judiciaires, des parajuristes, des autorités traditionnelles, ainsi que des résidents locaux qui cherchent à obtenir justice dans de nombreux forums. L'analyse comparative était en grande partie infranational, afin d'obtenir de multiples niveaux de complexité dans la structure du pouvoir traditionnelle, ainsi que les variations régionales importantes en Sierra Leone et au Libéria. CONTENTS Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................... v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER ONE Introduction and Study Design Problem Statement and Research Questions ............................................................................... 8 Defining Customary Justice Systems ........................................................................................ 11 Rule of Law Engagement with Customary Justice ................................................................... 16 Study Context: West African Manor River Basin ..................................................................... 23 Subnational Comparative Method ............................................................................................. 27 Case Selection........................................................................................................................ 33 Data Sources .......................................................................................................................... 39 Ethical Considerations ........................................................................................................... 44 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 46 Structure of the Dissertation ...................................................................................................... 48 CHAPTER TWO Literature Review and Conceptual Framework Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 55 Statebuilding as Peacebuilding model....................................................................................... 56 Legal-rationalism as Modernization Redux .............................................................................. 62 What is the Rule of Law? .......................................................................................................... 64 (Re-) building the Rule of Law in War-torn Societies .............................................................. 70 Legal Reform ......................................................................................................................... 72 Justice Sector Reform ............................................................................................................ 74 Transitional Justice .................................................................................................................... 81 Peacebuilding and Rule of Law in Africa ................................................................................. 85 State Failure or Collapse........................................................................................................ 85 History of Legal Pluralism in Africa ......................................................................................... 91 Political Economy of Colonial Customary Law .................................................................... 97 Chieftaincy and Traditional Authority .................................................................................... 102 i Politics of Informalization ....................................................................................................... 105 Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................................... 108 CHAPTER THREE The Political History of Sierra Leone and Liberia Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 112 Declaring a British Protectorate over the Hinterland of Sierra Leone .................................... 113 Settler-indigenous Relations in Liberia (1885-1944) .............................................................. 119 Independence: Sons and Nominees of Paramount Chiefs in Power ....................................... 126 One-party Rule: Consolidation of Coercive Patronage Politics .............................................. 130 The Tubman Era (1944-1971) ................................................................................................. 133 De-Tubmanizing while Repression Continues (1971-1989) ................................................... 137 The Liberian Civil War (1989-2005) ...................................................................................... 142 Sierra Leone: Another Manor River Insurgency (1991-2002) ................................................ 146 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 151 CHAPTER FOUR Post-war Reconstruction and Justice Sector Reform in the Manor River Basin Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 154 Kabbah’s Administration: Dual Commitment to Formal and Traditional Authority.............. 156 Koroma’s Natural Resource Boom: Running the Country Like a Private Business ............... 162 Johnson-Sirleaf