Presenter Information

Kayla Lewkowicz, Colby CollegeFollow

Location

Parker-Reed, SSWAC

Start Date

1-5-2014 2:00 PM

End Date

1-5-2014 3:00 PM

Project Type

Poster- Restricted to Campus Access

Description

We already know that warlords are fundamentally bad, tearing villages apart, creating chaos, extracting diamonds and minerals for profit at the expense of thousands of innocent lives. But some warlords choose to provide social services---health, education, and primarily, security---which add shades of gray to this prevailing thought process. Who is there to turn to when a state cannot or will not provide those services in conflict? Using case studies from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the DRC, this paper seeks to determine what drives a warlord to go beyond security in order to ensure the well being of those in their territorial acquisitions, if at all. Focusing on religion (identity), building credibility among communities (grievance), and resource availability (greed) as three possible motivations behind behavior otherwise against the traditional concept of what it means to be a warlord.

Faculty Sponsor

Laura Seay

Sponsoring Department

Colby College. Government Dept.

CLAS Field of Study

Social Sciences

Event Website

http://www.colby.edu/clas

ID

91

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May 1st, 2:00 PM May 1st, 3:00 PM

Warlords in Communities: Health, Education, and Security

Parker-Reed, SSWAC

We already know that warlords are fundamentally bad, tearing villages apart, creating chaos, extracting diamonds and minerals for profit at the expense of thousands of innocent lives. But some warlords choose to provide social services---health, education, and primarily, security---which add shades of gray to this prevailing thought process. Who is there to turn to when a state cannot or will not provide those services in conflict? Using case studies from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and the DRC, this paper seeks to determine what drives a warlord to go beyond security in order to ensure the well being of those in their territorial acquisitions, if at all. Focusing on religion (identity), building credibility among communities (grievance), and resource availability (greed) as three possible motivations behind behavior otherwise against the traditional concept of what it means to be a warlord.

https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/clas/2014/program/236