VOLUME XVIII 1993 NUMBER 2 LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL 1 1 10° VI 8°W LIBERIA -8 °N 8 °N- MONSERRADO MARGIBI -6 °N RIVER 1 6 °N- Geography Department 10 °W 8 °W Pittsburgh at Johnstown 1 University of 1 Published by THE LIBERIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION, INC. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Cover map: compiled by William Kory, cartography work by Jodie Molnar; Geography Department, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. i PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor VOLUME XVIII 1993 NUMBER 2 LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL Editor D. Elwood Dunn The University of the South Associate Editor Similih M. Cordor Florida Community College Book Review Editor Alfred B. Konuwa Butte College EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Bertha B. Azango Lawrence B. Breitborde University of Liberia Beloit College Christopher Clapham Warren L. d'Azevedo Lancaster University University of Nevada Reno Henrique F. Tokpa Thomas E. Hayden Cuttington University College Society of African Missions Svend E. Holsoe Corann Okorodudu University of Delaware Rowan College of New Jersey Edited at the Department of Political Science, The University of the South The Editors and Advisory Board gratefully acknowledge the contributions of The University of the South (particularly the Office of Print Services Staff) in the production of the Journal. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor CONTENTS FOREIGN FIRMS AND THE FINANCING OF CHARLES TAYLOR'S NPFL by William Reno ................................................ ............................... 175 WOMEN, SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN LIBERIA by George Klay Kieh and Doris H. Railey ..... ............................... 189 AFRICAN- AMERICANS AND U.S. POLICY TOWARD LIBERIA 1929-1935 by Elizabeth L. Normandy ............................... ............................... 203 SOME STRUCTURES OF EVERYDAY LIFE IN PRE -LIBERIAN COASTAL SOCIETIES, 1660 TO 1747 by Carl Patrick Burrowes ................................. ............................... 231 BOOK REVIEWS Davis, Anthony, Monrovia Mon Amour: A Visit to Liberia by Augustine Konneh ............................... ............................... 245 Dunn, D. Elwood, A History of the Episcopal Church in Liberia 1821 -1980 by Jane J. Martin ........................................ ............................... 246 RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND THESES ............ ............................... 251 NEWS AND NOTES ................................................. ............................... 253 DOCUMENT ............................... 278 CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE ......................... ............................... 355 INDEX ............................... 356 A referee journal that emphasizes the social sciences and humanities, the LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL is a semiannual publication devoted to studies of Africa's oldest republic. The annual subscription rate is $30.00, $15.00 for students and $45.00 for institutions, and includes membership in the Liberian Studies Association, Inc. All manuscripts and related matters should be addressed to The Editor, Liberian Studies Journal, Department of Political Science, The University of the South, 735 University Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383 -1000. Subscriptions and other business matters should be directed to The Executive Secretary, Liberian Studies Association, P.O. Box 671, Bloomington, Illinois 61702 -0671. The views expressed herein are those of the individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or the Liberian Studies Association, Inc. Copyright 1993 by the Liberian Studies Association, Inc. ISSN 0024 1989 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor Foreign Firms and the Financing of Charles Taylor's NPFL William Reno Scholars continue to decry the persistence of "weak" states in Africa while at the same time predicting their demise.1 One scholar portrays rulers' patrimo- nial behavior, their use of state resources at their own discretion to cement personal political alliances, as an unsustainable "pathology of state decay. "2 Others note that as rulers squander resources for political gain, the fiscal base of the state decays, and in turn undermines the patrimonial network. Superpower competition offered some rulers support from foreign patrons.3 But the end of the Cold War and greater pressures for democratic reform are supposed to cut off this artificial life support of patrimonial regimes. Most studies of patrimonial states accordingly identify two choices for African rulers: preside over total collapse into anarchy (Somalia)4 or accept as inevitable at least some reform designed to restore autonomous institutional state capacity to manage resources and provide services.5 But the survival of rebel leader Charles Taylor's "Greater Liberia" with the aid of foreign firms belies this notion of the inevitable collapse of patrimonialism. Indeed, Taylor stands as one of the most recent and extreme examples of rule through personal control over resources in Africa, surviving significant international challenge to his position and confounding predictions of an early demise. As Taylor shows, patrimonial regimes in Africa are not doomed to the automatic political disintegration and economic collapse that studies of state decay suggest. Foreign investment and deregulation, remedies favored by students of Africa's economic ills, can in fact reinforce the split between rulers' private interests and pursuit of a "national interest." Charles Taylor utilizes foreign contacts to develop strategies to weather the near total collapse of state bureaucracies and formal economies. Taylor exercises authority through in- tensely personalized, almost completely deinstitutionalized, political networks. Foreign firms emerge as an alternative source of resources where institutions of state collapse or do not exist. One reads of similar contacts between firms and leaders in such cases of "state collapse" as Savimbi's Angola, Mobutu's Zaire, and Bashir's Sudan.6 As the institutional state fades, along side it grows this more non -institutional, patrimonial political authority, or "Shadow State." Our inspection of the Taylor regime in Liberia reveals, however, that this new direction in patrimonialism is not entirely novel. Rather, the close ties between Taylor and foreign firms bear striking resemblance to relations that existed between West African coastal chiefs and European traders in the middle of the last century. In this regard, Taylor's Shadow State looks backward as much as it does to the future. Liberian Studies Journal, XVIII, 2 (1993) 175 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 176 WILLIAM RENO The Shadow State Taylor's status as arbiter of politics without state institutions depends upon his success in establishing himself as the axis of influence. He is thus anxious to ensure that resources for distribution to subordinates remain subject to his personal control. The primacy of these informal networks, often at the expense of formal institutions, forms the core of Shadow State authority. From Taylor's perspective, securing authority requires folding social networks into the bosom of the Shadow State. Control over resources provides him with necessary instruments to ensure networks' loyalty. A paradox becomes apparent. Privatizations and foreign investment that reformers and creditors require of patrimonial regimes elsewhere, do not condemn regimes like Taylor's to fundamental change. Even where prescrip- tions are followed, many commentators have failed to understand that "re- form" as such can be used to the patrimonial ruler's advantage. The Shadow State ruler's definition of "reform," however, does not include what he views as dangerous pluralism- whether political democracy, economic competition, or autonomous state institutions -which the regime's enemies can hijack to build an independent political network. In more than a few African rulers' eyes, ethnic diversity, repressed rivalries, revanchist and secessionist interests make plural- ism in any form a threat to their authority, promising political (or physical) death. Instead, "privatizations" to loyal associates and foreign commercial contacts add to these resources which rulers use to affirm authority over other networks while undermining potentially independent bureaucracies. In this regard, Mohammed Ayoob observes that some rulers intentionally weaken state institutions out of fear that effective bureaucracies may acquire political interests and supporters free of the ruler's control.7 These rulers prove unwilling to end systems of privilege and prerogatives that bind subordinates to their authority. Rather, patrimonial rulers may seek solutions to state decay through extending their personal domination over actual or potential rivals instead of building institutions, especially when they view such institutions as politically suspect. Some express skepticism that a patrimonial ruler can survive without revenue deriving from effective institutions. Yes, rulers still rely upon existing alliances with local strongmen whom they allow to directly exploit dwindling local sources of wealth. Yet, greater reliance on foreign firms is a significant departure from patrimonial dependence on decaying state institu- tions for political resources. Foreign firms