Politics of aid / Backgrounder
Sierra Leone: Reconstructing a Patrimonial State
12/03/2007 By Stefan Meyer
This brief article traces the causes of the war back to the flawed polity inherited by British colonial rule and the steady institutional decline of the postcolonial state.
It describes some options taken by donors in their post-conflict assistance and investigates how these approaches touched upon the underlying power-structures and mechanisms of social exclusion.
It thereby applies an analytical framework of ‘empowerment’ and asks inasmuch donors are complying in practice with their claims to base their interventions on rights and to seek to include greater opportunities and wider choices for people to enjoy decent livelihoods.
Download the full version of this publication, available in English (439 kB)
Publishing groups
EmpowermentKeywords
Aid effectiveness Aid policy Development cooperation Fragile state Humanitarian aid Post conflict Sierra Leone State building Sub-Saharan Africa West AfricaRelated publications
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Bio author: Stefan Meyer
Stefan Meyer is a Political Scientist (FU Berlin) and holds a Masters degree of the IDS Brighton, U.K. He worked as a consultant on aid instruments and in conflict impact assessment for a number of NGOs and for the German Development Cooperation (GTZ and KfW).
