Working Paper Series Working Paper 21 The Political Economy of Internal Conflict in Sierra Leone Paul Richards Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ Conflict Research Unit August 2003 Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ Clingendael 7 2597 VH The Hague P.O. Box 93080 2509 AB The Hague Phonenumber: # 31-70-3245384 Telefax: # 31-70-3282002 Email:
[email protected] Website: http://www.clingendael.nl/cru © Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyrightholders. Clingendael Institute, P.O. Box 93080, 2509 AB The Hague, The Netherlands. Table of Contents Foreword 5 I. Introduction - The Political Economy of ‘New War’ 7 II. The War in Sierra Leone 9 2.1. The Protagonists 9 2.2. The Course of the War 12 III. A War Fought With, or Over, Diamonds? 19 3.1. ‘Greed not Grievance’? 20 3.2. Diamonds and War in Sierra Leone 22 3.3. The Heart of the Matter? 23 3.4. Poverty, Corruption and Bad Governance 25 3.5. Diamonds and the RUF 25 3.6. Summary: Bad Boys or State Collapse? 26 IV. The Political Economy of War and Recovery: Recent Evidence 27 4.1. The Egalitarian World of the RUF 27 4.2. The Individualist Legacy of the CDF 30 4.3. A New Model Army? 32 4.4. ‘Truck and Chuck’? The Political Economy of Rural Reconstruction 33 V.