Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 09/2010

Peacebuilding in Liberia and the Case for a Perspective from Below

Niels Nagelhus Schia, Benjamin de Carvalho

September 2010

Norwegian Institute of International Affairs

Abstract

Rule of law reforms in Liberia over the past five years serve as a clear example of how the international community has failed on this point, as the country’s own practices have been generally neglected in the process. Characteristically, there is little updated information on the customary law and traditional practices of Liberia. In investigating how the international community addresses SGBV in Liberia, we found within the liberal peacekeeping/building paradigm few analytical tools that could be used to gain a solid understanding of the host country ‘from below’. This area of society remains a professional blind-spot and represents a gap in the efforts of the international peacekeeping/-building community to build a sustainable peace in the country.