04627nam 2200781Ia 450 991081218610332120200520144314.00-8122-0284-810.9783/9780812202847(CKB)2670000000418291(OCoLC)607374103(CaPaEBR)ebrary10748596(SSID)ssj0000967806(PQKBManifestationID)11631744(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000967806(PQKBWorkID)10995214(PQKB)11553820(MdBmJHUP)muse26732(DE-B1597)449143(OCoLC)1013947523(OCoLC)1037980929(OCoLC)1041974925(OCoLC)1046622723(OCoLC)1046996259(OCoLC)1049610991(OCoLC)1054879163(OCoLC)979753701(DE-B1597)9780812202847(Au-PeEL)EBL3442170(CaPaEBR)ebr10748596(CaONFJC)MIL682370(OCoLC)898755238(MiAaPQ)EBC3442170(EXLCZ)99267000000041829120130712d2006 uy 0engurcn|||||||||txtccrLiberia the violence of democracy /Mary H. Moran1st ed.Philadelphia, Pa. University of Pennsylvania Pressc20061 online resource (199 p.)The ethnography of political violenceBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph1-322-51088-1 0-8122-2028-5 Includes bibliographical references (p. [165]-178) and index.Front matter --Contents --Introduction: Liberia, Violence, and Democracy --Chapter 1. The Case for Indigenous Democracy --Chapter 2. Contested Histories --Chapter 3. Civilization and the Liberian Nation --Chapter 4. The Promise and Terror of Elections --Chapter 5. The Lock on the Outhouse Door: Discourses of Development --Chapter 6. The Crisis of Youth and the Promise of the Future --Chapter 7. Conclusion: A Wedding and a Funeral --References --Index --AcknowledgmentsLiberia, a small West African country that has been wracked by violence and civil war since 1989, seems a paradoxical place in which to examine questions of democracy and popular participation. Yet Liberia is also the oldest republic in Africa, having become independent in 1847 after colonization by an American philanthropic organization as a refuge for "Free People of Color" from the United States. Many analysts have attributed the violent upheaval and state collapse Liberia experienced in the 1980's and 1990's to a lack of democratic institutions and long-standing patterns of autocracy, secrecy, and lack of transparency. Liberia: The Violence of Democracy is a response, from an anthropological perspective, to the literature on neopatrimonialism in Africa. Mary H. Moran argues that democracy is not a foreign import into Africa but that essential aspects of what we in the West consider democratic values are part of the indigenous African traditions of legitimacy and political process. In the case of Liberia, these democratic traditions include institutionalized checks and balances operating at the local level that allow for the voices of structural subordinates (women and younger men) to be heard and be effective in making claims. Moran maintains that the violence and state collapse that have beset Liberia and the surrounding region in the past two decades cannot be attributed to ancient tribal hatreds or neopatrimonial leaders who are simply a modern version of traditional chiefs. Rather, democracy and violence are intersecting themes in Liberian history that have manifested themselves in numerous contexts over the years. Moran challenges many assumptions about Africa as a continent and speaks in an impassioned voice about the meanings of democracy and violence within Liberia.Ethnography of political violence.DemocracyLiberiaPolitical violenceLiberiaLiberiaPolitics and government1980-LiberiaHistoryCivil War, 1999-2003LiberiaHistoryCivil War, 1989-1996DemocracyPolitical violence966.62033Moran Mary H.1957-1633852MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910812186103321Liberia3973817UNINA