VOLUME XVIII 1993 NUMBER 1 LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL 1 BOW1 10 °W LIBERIA -8 °N 8 °N--t MONSERRADO MARGIBI -6 °N RIVER 1 6 °N- rel 4111111 St *AV& 111,814010all* LIBERIA 4011/111 MILES 50 Geography Department lo °W 8°W at Johnstown 1 University of Pittsburgh 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. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor VOLUME XVIII 1993 NUMBER 1 LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL Editor , D. Elwood Dunn The University of the South Associate Editor Similih M. Cordor Kennesaw 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 J. Gus Liebenow University of Delaware Indiana University Corann Okorodudu Glassboro State College 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 HIGHER EDUCATION IN LIBERIA: YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW by Melvin J. Mason, Henrique F. Tokpa, E. Othello Gongar, and Ansu G. Mason ........................................................................... 1 FROM ECOWAS TO ECOMOG: THE LIBERIAN CRISIS AND THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL HEGEMONY IN WEST AFRICA by Yekutiel Gershoni ........................................................................ 21 MANDINGO INTEGRATION INTO THE LIBERIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY by Augustine Konneh ....................................................................... 44 A SIMULATION MODEL OF INVESTMENT PLANNING AND INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION FOR LIBERIA by Jacob Pereira -Lunghu .................................................................. 63 I DRESSED IN GREEN: AN ESSAY IN MEMORY OF BAI T. MOORE OR TRIBUTE OF A CULTURAL HERO by Wilton Sankawulo ....................................................................... 88 BOOK REVIEWS Dunn, D. Elwood, A History of the Episcopal Church in Liberia 1821 -1980 by Abeodu Bowen Jones .......................................................... 95 Skinner, Elliott P., African Americans and U.S. Policy Toward Africa 1850-1924 by Katherine Harris .................................................................. 99 Vogt, Margaret A. (ed), The Liberian Crisis and ECOMOG: A Bold Attempt at Regional Peacekeeping, and Agetua, Nkem, Operation Liberty: The Story of Major General Joshua Nimyel Dogonyaro by Byron Tarr ............................................. ............................... 103 RECENT PUBLICATIONS AND THESES ............ ............................... 110 NEWS AND NOTES ................................................. ............................... 111 DOCUMENT ............................... 144 CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE ......................... ............................... 174 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, Sewanee, TN 37375. 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 necessar- ily 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 Higher Education in Liberia: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Melvin J. Mason, Henrique F. Tokpa, E. Othello Gongar, and Ansu G. Mason Introduction Higher Education in Liberia dates back to 1862 with the establishment of Liberia College in Monrovia with Joseph J. Roberts as its first President. Twenty seven years later, in 1889, Cuttington Collegiate and Divinity School was founded in Maryland county. The third degree -granting institution, the W. V. S. Tubman Technical College, was founded in the 1960's. Both of the first two institutions provided a classical education. It was only when Liberia College was raised to a university in the early 1950's and Cuttington was relocated to its present site at Suacoco, Bong County, in 1949, that their curricula were changed to Liberal Arts. Other disciplines were added over the years, reflecting the manpower needs of the country. The Tubman Technical College was designed to fill the technology gap in the other two institutions. It is interesting to observe that the extent to which these three institutions responded to the manpower needs of the country has been debated during the last twenty five or more years. Now that we expect to enter a Third Republic, this paper reviews higher education before and during the Liberian civil war and recommends ways in which the higher education system, in its task of quality human resource development, can be more functional in the Third Republic. The Concept of Higher Education Higher Education refers to education activities (training and learning) at the tertiary level. In most parts of Africa, this includes all organized learning (arts, humanities, science faculties), specialized universities (i.e. agriculture, engi- neering, science and technology), and post- secondary institutions which train professionals in degree, diploma, and certified programs. The concept of higher education in Liberia fits this definition, and specifically refers to organized learning above the 12th grade. This category of education was directly under the Ministry of Education. However, higher education in Liberia was to become the responsibility of the Higher Education Commission which was established by law in 1989 but had not yet become operational before the civil war. The three degree granting institutions which fall into this category are the University of Liberia, Cuttington University College, and Tubman Technical College. There are thirteen diploma granting institutions which are also included in this paper, but are not fully treated because of the lack of sufficient data (see Appendix A) (Breda, 1992; Jamil, 1991). Liberian Studies Journal, XVIII, 1 (1993) 1 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 2 M. MASON, H. TOKPA, O. GONGAR, AND A. MASON Almost all of the higher institutions of learning in Africa were developed based on European and American models (Saint, 1992; Fine, 1990). Higher education in Liberia is no exception. Consequently, most African universities live and think in many respects like European and American ones. They "reproduce knowledge manufactured in Europe and America" in response to problems unique to their social and economic environment. However, unlike the Western universities which, Gana argues, "stands for conservation and continuation with the past as well as for the advancement of knowledge," the African university aims to change society and not conserve or continue the past (Gana, 1993, pp. 7 -8). This trend supports the assertion that Africa hastens to develop by Western standards. However, whereas the European countries from which the African model was borrowed have changed their educational system tremendously, there has been no major change to the African university system since their founding in the 1960's (Saint, 1992; Meck, 1991; Ball, 1990; Guinn, 1990). Jamil's 1991 World Bank study asserts that in the 1960's and 1970's the conventional wisdom which influenced African government education policies was to educate and train many qualified professionals in relevant labor market areas as needed by the country. This Western manpower requirement attrib- uted to government willingness to provide huge subsidies to universities. In Liberia, the direct results of this policy were the establishment of the Manpower Division of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs, the eventual increased access to the University of Liberia and Cuttington University College, and the establishment of three Teacher Training Institutes -Kakata Rural Teacher Training Institute (KRTTI) in Margibi County, Zoror Rural Teacher Training Institute (ZRTTI) in Lofa County, and Webo Rural Teacher Training Institute (WRTTI) in Maryland County. WRTTI was never opened. In the mean time, however, eleven private institutions of higher learning have emerged in the last ten years making a total of sixteen institutions of higher learning in Liberia (see Appendix A). Although this increase in access to institutions of higher learning in Liberia may suggest increase in the labor market absorptive capacity, this was