Liberia, Africa's oldest democracy, has made several efforts in becoming a developed economy and ending poverty, but these efforts have been hampered by lack of appropriate financing mechanisms to achieve this goal. The most recent challenge which was the purpose of this study was to understand how Liberia can finance and achieve the sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations in September 2015. Despite substantial external aid, Liberia was only able to meet 3 out of the 8 Millennium Development Goals, and more than 60% of the population remain extremely poor. The main research question was to understand what policy shifts are need for Liberia to finance its post-2015 development goals. Using Kingdon's multiple streams theory as the lens, a qualitative case study design was used to analyze literature, public reports, government reports, and the loosely-structured interviews of 15 purposefully-selected participants. The interview data were coded and categorized for thematic analysis. Results reveal that Liberia needs to make a policy shift in key areas including domestic resource mobilization, natural resource governance, combating corruption, strengthening the justice system, strengthening capacity for policy processes, and improving political leadership. The positive social change implication of this study includes recommendations for policymakers, the Ministry of Finance, and the donor community to strengthen domestic resource mobilization and undertake pro-poor tax reforms in order to reduce aid dependence, support Liberia's long-term plan to eradicate extreme poverty and become a middle-income country by 2030.

Political decentralization has been advanced in the 21st century as a prescription for enabling citizens' participation in politics and increasing good governance. However, empirical investigations have offered limited knowledge about decentralization efforts in Liberia. This study explored if decentralization could serve as a catalyst for citizens' participation and good governance in Liberia. The polarity of participation and representation - one of the pairs in the polarities of democracy model developed by Benet - was used to establish the theoretical foundation for this study. The study employed a case study research design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 20 participants recruited through snowball sampling and subjected to a thematic content procedure for analysis. The main theme indicated that decentralization was perceived as Liberia's best policy option to repair 171 years of political, social, and economic challenges. Establishment of service centers at the county level to manage social development funds and the passage of the local government act were acknowledged as achievements of the decentralization policy in Liberia. On the other hand, the country's long history of centralized governance, corruption, inequality, constitution violations, and misused of public resources were identified as major obstacles to successful implementation of decentralization policy measures. The social change implication of the study involves identifying a potential avenue for the government and citizens of Liberia to build a stronger relationship through reform which will ultimately enhance citizens' ability to be involved in governmental decision making at both national and local levels.

Kalla krigets avslut markerade en skiljelinje i antalet FN fredsoperationer i världen. Då denbipolära världen upphörde 1989-91 utlöste den i sin tur en rad av inomstatliga konflikter på mångahåll i världen, men inte minst i Afrika Uppsatsen avser att behandla FN och dess förmåga attkunna ingripa med militära medel i afrikanska konflikter. Den observation som ligger till grundför ämnesvalet är att det verkar vara svårt att mobilisera vilja och handling att ingripa i afrikanskakonflikter. Även när man beslutat om FN-insats tar det oftast lång tid och det är svårt att fåkvalificerade förband att ställa upp, såvida det inte finns koloniala band som gör att enskildanationer snabbt ingriper. Vad beror denna svårighet på? FN har försökt analysera och bestämmavad som krävs för att organisationen ska bli en trovärdig och kraftfull aktör för att hanterainomstatliga och mellanstatliga konflikter i världen. Brahimirapporten utgavs 2000 av enexpertgrupp för FN:s fredsoperationer. Denna rapport ligger fortfarande till grund för hur FN börutveckla sin förmåga till effektiv konfliktlösning och genomförande av fredsfrämjandeoperationer. Uppsatsens problem utgörs därmed av frågan; hur kan fredsfrämjande operationer iinomstatliga konflikter bli framgångsrika?Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka huruvida FN-operationen i Liberia (UNMIL) kan sägasutgöra en ideal fredsfrämjande operation med utgångspunkt i Brahimirapportens centralarekommendationer, samt om operationen därmed kan sägas vara framgångsrik. / The end of the cold war marked a clear change in the number of Peace SupportOperations around the world. When the bipolar world of the East and the Westended between 1989 and 1991 it triggered a chain of intra-state conflicts in manyareas in the world, not least in Africa. This study is trying to deal with the UnitedNations (UN) and its capability to intervene with military means in Africanconflicts. The observation that caught the interest of this subject is the notion thatthe UN has serious difficulties to mobilise political will and action to be able toengage in African conflicts. Even when the UN has decided on establishment ofPeace Support Operations, it normally takes a long time to deploy and it is hard toreceive qualified military units, unless colonial ties justifies the quick response ofindividual nations. What explains this difficulty? The UN has tried to analyse anddetermine what is required of them in order to become a credible and forcefulactor in the management of inter- and intra-state conflicts around the world. TheBrahimi Report was released in 2000 by an expert panel for UN Peace Operations.This report still forms the foundation for how the UN should adjust and developits capability for effective conflict prevention, conflict management and executionof Peace Support Operations. The scientific question is therefore; how can PeaceSupport Operations in intra-state conflicts become successful?The purpose of this study is to examine whether the UN-led Peace SupportOperation in Liberia (UNMIL) was an ideal operation when compared withselected recommendations of the Brahimi report, and if the operation therebycould be classified as successful. / Avdelning: ALB - Slutet Mag 3 C-upps.Hylla: Upps. ChP 04-06

Denna undersöknings främsta teoretiska utgångspunkt är att medier på ett eller annat sätt påverkar människors uppfattning av verkligheten. Medierna kan visa oss de dimensioner av verkligheten vi inte själva har möjligheten att uppleva och blir då ofta vår enda källa till information. Därför finns ett intresse att undersöka hur medier framställer sådana situationer och händelser. Undersökningen har begränsats till hur två av Sveriges största dagstidningar, Dagens Nyheter och Svenska Dagbladet, i sina reportage, framställt den ebolasituation som pågått i Västafrika under det senaste året. Detta har undersökts med hjälp av en kvalitativ analys av innehållet, där fokus lagts på att urskilja generella mönster och drag som karaktäriserar framställningen. Under den valda sökperioden har endast åtta reportage publicerats och samtliga av dem inom en tvåmånadersperiod. Värt att notera är det faktum att ebolasituationen enbart framställts utifrån ett av de drabbade länderna i Västafrika, Liberia. Analysen av materialet har påvisat flertalet relevanta mönster, bland annat att situationen framställts gå från allvarlig till kontrollerad trots att ebolaepidemin varit fortsatt pågående månader efter att det sista reportaget publicerats. Det har även konstaterats att majoriteten av personerna i reportagen har kopplingar till Läkare utan gränser, vilket dessutom är den organisation som spelar överlägset störst roll i den sammantagna bild som framställts i reportagen. Med hänsyn till undersökningens resultat har det sedan avslutningsvis getts förslag på eventuell fortsatt forskning, däribland att det skulle kunna vara av intresse att vidare studera hur ebolasituationen framställts i medieinnehåll som inte producerats inom samma kulturella ramar. Detta skulle kunna ge en bredare bild och öppna upp för kulturella jämförelser i framställningen av ebolasituationen.

The purpose of my research is to analyze the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (LTRC) lack of attention towards accessing rural Liberian women's voices as opposed to privileged Liberian women residing in urban and Diaspora spaces. By analyzing the LTRC and its Final Report from a critical global feminist perspective, I was able to not only illuminate, but bring a spotlight over issues including access, privilege, and multicultural insensitivity related to Liberia's indigenous tribal cultures. Liberia, being a country founded by American colonials, is socially constructed by Western ideological norms. As Western ideology is mainly normalized and enforced by the privileged class, Americo-Liberians, the LTRC and Final Report were also constructed within Western constructions. Given Liberia's historical colonial ties to the United States and its current relations to the global community, the LTRC decided to include Liberians in the Diaspora to its focus group. The Diaspora, also referred to as Liberia's 16th county, is made up of privileged Liberians displaced in overseas countries including the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. As with any progress, fashion, or business, attention is given to the newest, most profitable merchandise, or in the case of the LTRC, population. I hypothesized, and feared, that the LTRC did not provide indigenous Liberian women, many of whom reside in rural Liberia, equal access and effort as they did privileged Liberian women residing in urban and Diaspora spaces. To prove this, I conduct a feminist content analysis of the LTRC Final Report, recorded public testimonies which are available on the LTRC website (www.trcofliberia.org) and quantitative data collected and processed by, Benetech, a human rights statistics organization based out of Minnesota... a city which happens to be home to the highest number of Diaspora Liberians in the world. After conducting my investigation, I was able to conclude my thesis with reasons as to why underprivileged women's voices in Liberian should be included in doctrine, like the LTRC, and suggest ways to improve methods like the LTRC to ensure indigenous women's voices are fairly accessed and heard.

Given the destabilizing effect which conflicts have had on Africa's socio-economic and political development, attempts have been (and are still being) made by a combination of state and non-state actors towards ensuring the prevention of conflicts before they occur, including the setting up of the required capacity to deal with them. Epitomizing this tradition is Nigeria, which courtesy of its regional hegemonic status and geographic location as well as its military and economic strength has been one of the leading nations in conflict resolution, peace building and peacekeeping in Africa. In view of the foregoing, this study revisits Nigeria's conflict resolution mechanisms in Africa, through an analysis of its role within Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)-sponsored projects; such as the Nigerian-led military intervention in Liberia between 1990 and 1997. Using the realist approach as its framework of analysis and content analysis as its research methodology, the study interrogates the connection between Nigeria's interventionist role in Africa and the possible nexus or otherwise with its foreign policy dictates. The study further examines the gains or otherwise that have been achieved courtesy of the Africanization of Nigeria's foreign policy objectives from 1960 to 2010; and the probable factors responsible for the much 'politicized' shift to citizen diplomacy. The study reveals that what is presently at play is a continuation of Nigeria's traditional Afro-centric posture and advocates the need for Nigeria to put an end to its seemingly 'charity inclined foreign policy orientation'. It recommends a re-definition of Nigeria's foreign policy focus to accommodate a 'People first' approach towards conflict resolution in Africa both in theory and in practice. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

This dissertation is a narrative history about nearly 800 newly freed black Georgians who sought freedom beyond the borders of the Unites States by emigrating to Liberia during the years of 1866 and 1868. This work fulfills three overarching goals. First, I demonstrate that during the wake of Reconstruction, newly freed persons’ interest in returning to Africa did not die with the Civil War. Second, I identify and analyze the motivations of blacks seeking autonomy in Africa. Third, I tell the stories and challenges of those black Georgians who chose emigration as the means to civil and political freedom in the face of white opposition. In understanding the motives of black Georgians who emigrated to Liberia, I analyze correspondence from black and white Georgians and the white leaders of the American Colonization Society and letters from Liberia settlers to black friends and families in the Unites States. These letters can be found within the American Colonization Society Papers correspondence files and some letters reprinted in the ACS’s monthly periodical, the African Repository. To date, no single work has been published on the historical significance of black Georgians who emigrated to Liberia during Reconstruction. What my research uncovers is that that 31 percent of the 3,184 passengers transported to West Africa by the American Colonization Society from 1865 to 1877 were Georgians, thereby making Georgia, the leading states to produce the highest numbers of blacks to resettle in Liberia and the logical focal point for the African-American emigration movement during Reconstruction.

The changing nature of today’s wars, shows that civilians have been involved in these wars as both victims and perpetrators. Since these are internal wars, many civilians are often displaced, and they end up becoming refugees. In the midst of all this, women and children suffer most in this transition, with women suffering from sexual violence. In this context of armed conflict, it is observed that women, men, girls and boys experience conflict differently and they also respond differently in times of peacekeeping, peacebuilding and also in post-conflict reconstruction. Women are not only the victims of war; they are also denied full participation in decision-making in areas of peace and security. Furthermore, their vital roles in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding are rarely acknowledged. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 in October 2000, with the theme “Women, Peace and Security”. Although there are other forums that have addressed women in peace and security, there is none that has been more vocal, unanimous and holistic than Resolution 1325. The Resolution recognizes the need for women to be involved in conflict prevention, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. It also calls for the participation of women in decision making and peace processes. It further calls for the integration of gender perspectives in peacekeeping operations and the protection of women and girls from gender based violence in conflict zones. Resolution 1325 refers to other various previously adopted resolutions and other policies and gives mandates to the different role players like the United Nations, member countries and all parties involved in conflicts. In its efforts to implement the Resolution, the United Nations developed a System-Wide Action Plan for 2005- 2006 which was later reviewed and updated for 2008-2009 with performance indicators, monitoring and accountability procedures. The member states are under the obligation to ensure that the policy on peace and security is incorporated in their national policies. This study has cited Liberia being a country that has emerged from civil war and how the Resolution has been applicable in the reconstruction of that country. Though progress has been recorded in the implementation of the Resolution, there are still gaps and great challenges in the use of the action plans. However, the United Nations entities are working on the revised action plans and their report will only be given in 2010. This study has compared Resolution 1325 with the landmines campaign which has been referred to as the most successful humanitarian advocacy ever in history. There are various lessons learnt from the landmines campaign which could be used for the successful implementation of Resolution 1325. This study has assessed the impact of Resolution 1325 since its adoption to date and found out that there has been little progress. The gender perspective in preventing armed conflict has not made it any easier for women to participate in decision making and peace processes. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2010.

186 Ghanaian and 199 Liberian young adult students living in Ghana completed surveys regarding their sexual risk taking behaviors, as well as their knowledge about HIV, their current level of hopelessness, and their subjective quality of life. Results indicated that although knowledge levels were adequate, there was no connection between knowledge about HIV and past risk taking behaviors, including multiple sexual partners, and lack of safe sex practices. Results did indicate a connection between quality of life and the number of sexual partners, and a connection between hopelessness and lack of safe sex behaviors. The author concluded that HIV/STD prevention campaigns located in Ghana should include behavioral skills training in current preventative campaigns. / Department of Psychological Science

Based on thesis (M.A.)--East Texas State University, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [77]-84) and index.