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[Project] Evaluation of the DD&R process in Liberia

• More than 100,000 former combatants in the civil war in Liberia have been demobilized. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the lead agency responsible for their reintegration, whilst other international donors, including the European Union and the United States, are providing financial contributions and organizing their own parallel programs.
• Evaluation of the DD&R process in Liberia

[Publication] Commercial security and development: Findings from Timor-Leste, Liberia and Peru

• Commercial security and development: Findings from Timor-Leste, Liberia and Peru
• Commercial security affects a number of development-related factors, such as the capacity of states to govern, overall feelings of public safety, economic growth and social welfare. Findings from field research in Timor-Leste, Liberia and Peru indicate that the relation between commercial security and development is highly ambivalent. Security markets can foster economic growth and ease the burden on the back of the public security sector. Nevertheless, weak regulation of commercial...

[Publication] Dealing with private security companies. Options for development cooperation in Timor-Leste, Liberia and Peru

• Dealing with private security companies. Options for development cooperation in Timor-Leste, Liberia and Peru
• How should development actors deal with private security companies? This BICC publication summarizes the main findings from field research led by Marc von Boemcken on private security companies in three developing countries: Timor-Leste, Liberia and Peru. Each summary focuses on the specific relations between development cooperation and private security.

[Image] Cover_Liberia_Wilshusen.png

[Project] Commercial provision of security in development countries

• Between 2010 and 2011, BICC researchers examined the private security industries in Timor-Leste, Liberia and Peru. They were particularly interested in the relation between private security and development cooperation and found that security companies challenge development actors in two significant ways. 

[PDF Document] SAD_Nexus_Paper_2022_web.pdf   (721.2 KB)

[PDF Document] BICC_Working_Paper_8_2ß19.pdf   (1.35 MB)

[Press] New publication \ When the 'War Attitude' persists: How Pro-Government Militias affect Society in the Long Run

• More than 20 years have passed since the end of the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia, violent conflicts that once involved numerous pro- and anti-government militias. However, networks of former combatants still exist in both countries. This Paper examines the long-term political and social impact of pro-government militias (PGMs).
• Tuesday, 16 May 2023: Fiona Wilshusen, author of the SAD-Nexus-Paper 2022, points out that ex-combatants may remain a threat to peace and security long after the end of the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone: 'Former (pro-government) combatants, regardless of their previous affiliation, represent a potential instrument for exercising political violence—even in the long term'. This is particularly true with elections just around the corner in both countries.At the political level, a long-term problem ...

[PDF Document] brief45.pdf   (5.94 MB)

[Project] The Role of External Actors in civil war economies in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Since 2003, a research programme at BICC on so-called war economies has aimed to shed light on the specific impact of external economic actors, a diverse group that includes multinationals, (neighbouring) countries, private persons, local firms, etc. on the conflict situation. One of the guiding questions was what constitutes a war economy, and how its structural features differ from a 'normal' situation. Subject to analysis were countries and regions in Sub-Sahara Africa, where a vast number of...