ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

AT A TIME WHEN THERE is so much political upheaval within African states and the international system more broadly, any work on international statebuilding, civil wars, and humanitarianism must start by acknowledging the people in war-torn countries. This book is about those people—the citizens of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire. Too often, they have been the victims of coloniality, civilian and military dictators, warlords, and corrupt government officials. These forces have created the conditions of state decay that result in civil wars and excessive human insecurity. This book clearly captures these problems and the plights of the people while showing the efforts to enhance human security and build better states. We stand in solidary with the victims and call out the perpetrators of structural and physical violence while recognizing all those actors, domestic and external, who have made noble efforts to enhance human security. This book is an academic work that is rooted in the firm belief that the purpose of knowledge is to change the human condition—for the better! In this way, this book is about the people, and it is to be used by those in power to improve the political, economic, and social conditions of the people.

As a scholarly work, this book emanates from our intellectual and social scientific training and growth over the past decades. Even though this book is our own work, we are grateful to mentors who shaped our earlier understanding of social and political issues. For me, Abu Bakarr Bah, that goes to the scholars at the New School for Social Research in New York, notably Andrew Arato, Jose Casanova, and David Ploke. For me, Nikolas Emmanuel, I would like to thank Donald Rothchild (University of California, Davis) and Daniel Bach (Sciences Po Bordeaux) for mentoring me and encouraging me to be the scholar and person that I have become. We should also add the colleagues and friends in our fields who have been intellectual checkpoints and go-to people for support. For me, Abu Bakarr Bah, these include Bill Zartman, Wale Adebanwi, Ebenezer Obadare, Cyril Obi, Ismail Rashid, Leonardo Villalón, Nic Cheeseman, Ismael Montana, Diane Rodgers, Susan Russell, Kurt Thurmaier, Andrew Otieno, and Teresa Wasonga, just to name a few of them. For me, Nikolas Emmanuel, I would like to thank my coauthor, Abu Bakarr Bah, for encouraging me to be a part of this book. I appreciate his friendship and his hard work. Thank you for including me. As coauthors, we must also recognize the intellectual bonds we have developed over the past decade. Our common interests have resulted in multiple coauthored works on peace and conflict issues.

The research presented here comes not only from our intellectual prowess but also the rich data that underpin the book. As such, we owe deep gratitude to all those people who helped in the collection of the data, notably at the United Nations in New York and in West Africa (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal). Abu Bakarr Bah spent several months in these places and received tremendous information from scholars, government officials, diplomats, military officers, ex-combatants, officials of international organizations, civil society leaders, and people who directly experienced the civil wars. This work would not have been possible without the generosity of the respondents. We are also grateful to the research assistants for their help in the process of collecting and organizing the data. In particular, these include Dimitri Sidoine Gnamien in Côte d’Ivoire, Aloysius Nyati in Liberia, Ousmane Ba in Senegal, and graduate students at Northern Illinois University (Shay Galto, Kimberly Leifker, Justin Yates, and Greta Gustafson). We also thank Amanda Victória Souza, who worked as a research assistant while a graduate student at the School of International Peace Studies at Soka University of Japan, for her excellent work supporting the last stage of the book.

Data collection requires resources and logistical support. This research was facilitated by colleagues, friends, and extended family relations in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal. Some of these include Amadu Sidi Bah, Nima Bah-Chang, Russell Chang, Amadu Tejan Bah, Ibrahim Bah, and Sulaiman Bah in Sierra Leone; Lansana Gberie and Sulaiman Bah in Liberia; Younoussa Diallo in Côte d’Ivoire; and Ousmane Sene, Abibatou Ndiaye Diallo, and Abibou Diop in Senegal. We must also acknowledge the institutional support from the West African Research Association, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, and Northern Illinois University for funding the research. We are also very grateful to the anonymous reviewers of the work and the staff and leadership at Indiana University Press for their efforts and insightful contributions in improving the work during each phase of the publication process.

All successful works come out of institutional and personal support systems, most notably family. We are deeply grateful to our families for their support and contributions, which make our work possible and successful. For me, Abu Bakarr Bah, I must first thank Rugiatu (Rugie) Bah, my wife of over two decades. Rugie has been the backbone to my professional work and the balance in my life. Our three children—Manmadu, Ibrahim, and Aisha—are always in the mix as amplifiers of joy and points of meaning in our life. They are true blessings for me, and I am deeply grateful to all four of them. In my world, family is stretched far and deep to parents and siblings. All of these people, notably my mother (Haja Isatu Bah), father (Alhaji Mohamed Bah) and sister (Mariama Jelloh Bah), provide the inner energy that fuels my professional work and grounding in the everyday world. For Nikolas Emmanuel, I would finally like to express my immense gratitude to both my wife, Frédérique, and my daughter, Margaux. From giving feedback on ideas and drafts of the project to providing unending moral support and love throughout the entire process, they were as important to this book getting done as I was. Thanks so much, both of you. Finally, we must come back to the people upon whose social, economic, and political conditions this book rests. The real success of this work and the deepest joy for us will lie not only on the reified academic measures that we have become accustomed to but on the insights that readers, especially in the policy world, can gain from this work and use to address the causes of oppression and human insecurity in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, and similar countries. The actual fulfillment of our gratitude lies in how this work is used in the praxis of statebuilding. We realize our limited agency in that praxis, but our scholarship and intellectual contributions are rooted not just in seeking academic accolades but in the firm belief that knowledge must be used to improve the human condition. This book is a step in that process, as we count on those in power to put the ideas into action for the benefit of the people.

Abu Bakarr Bah

Presidential Research Professor

Northern Illinois University

Nikolas Emmanuel

Professor of Political Science

Graduate School of International Peace Studies (SIPS)

Soka University of Japan