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Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State
Book by John-Peter Pham
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 25, 2014
I'll refrain from a critique of the content to just note that this may be the most poorly edited book I've ever read.
November 5, 2024
Well sourced and interesting summary of Liberia's history up to 2003. The historical impact of Colonialism and slavery is not really touched upon, and the author does not give much weight to several acts of extortion backed up by threats of violence by the colonial powers of GB, France, and Germany.
He is also rather charitable in interpreting America's role. This includes refusing to protect or support what was essentially a private American colonial project against the old colonial powers. More recently, the decision to massively materially support the Doe regime despite its brutality.
Finally, little attention is paid to the role of neocolonialism. This is particularly obvious in the final chapter which deals with the notion of failed states. There is no discussion of the benefit posed to wealthy states by the collapse of mineral rich states: cheap resources.
He is also rather charitable in interpreting America's role. This includes refusing to protect or support what was essentially a private American colonial project against the old colonial powers. More recently, the decision to massively materially support the Doe regime despite its brutality.
Finally, little attention is paid to the role of neocolonialism. This is particularly obvious in the final chapter which deals with the notion of failed states. There is no discussion of the benefit posed to wealthy states by the collapse of mineral rich states: cheap resources.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 4, 2008
John Peter Pham unravels the tragic story of a collapsed state in the midst of constant warfare in one of the worst regions in the world. His main argument is that the very foundation of Liberia contained in itself the seeds of self-destruction.
Liberia was established in 1847 by freed slaves from America and the American colonization society in an attempt to "rid our own country of a useless and pernicious, if not a dangerous portion of its population to spread the arts of civilized life" to "a benighted portion of the globe". Unexpectedly (at least for me) these "half-civilized" settlers colonized the indigenous population and created an apartheid and exploitative country dominated by an Americo Liberian oligarchy for more than a century.
In 1980, an indigenous general called Samuel Doe overthrew the government just to reinforce an even more ruthless and repressive regime. Interestingly, he received $500 million (!?) from the US gov simply to frustrate the Libyan dictator Quadafi, who was aspiring to spread radical Islamism in Western Africa. Various rebel groups rose up against Doe, and Charles Taylor, who cleverly exploited the ethnic animosity and illegal timber and diamond trade to earn $75m annually, eventually gained the upper hand and won the election in 1997 after 7 years of bloody civil war. But the crisis only got worse and he was forced into exile in 2003.
This is a very very sad tragedy of an impoverished country with a plethora of blood-thirsty villains and almost no hero. All the war factions seemed to fight for no noble cause, some attempted to prolong the war to benefit from the uncontrollable black market. ECOMOG, the Western African peacekeeping force, were equally evil, also taking part in raping, looting and illegal trade. France conducted iron ore trade with Charles Taylor during the height of the war. The UN was rendered almost powerless and America refused to save its "stepchild". The war was filled with barbarity and ignorant mysticism beyond belief (i.e ritual killings, mutilations, cannibalism) and clearly than ever manifested the crisis that Robert Kaplan had envisioned in "The Coming Anarchy".
But there were several episodes in the story that made me laugh, not particularly because i was entertained, because they were disturbingly comical:
1, after the fraudulent election in 1985, Doe manipulated the vote counting process and claimed 51% of the votes. the US State Dep unwittingly appraised him: "The prospects for national reconciliation were brightened by Doe's claim that he won only a narrow 51% election victory virtually unheard of in the rest of African where incumbent rulers normally claim victories of 95 to 100%". Ronald Reagan lovingly called him "Chairman Doe" (Wow!).
2,After Doe took office, he banned all unauthorized gatherings lest the Liberian people’s “jubilation might get out hand”.
3, One of the rebel groups, the Liberian Peace Council army was called“Butt Naked Battalion”: they went into battle naked in the belief this would render them impervious to enemy fire. The general “we were nude, fearless, drunk and homicidal. We killed hundreds of people. But God Telephoned me and told me that i was not the hero so I stopped and became a preacher”.
Generally, I like the book but sometimes it seems to me the book didn't go through any editing process, littered with simple grammatical errors. The torrent of acronyms and hordes of different names, groups, parties confused me too. But it provides a useful review of the endless catastrophe in war-torn western african countries.
Liberia was established in 1847 by freed slaves from America and the American colonization society in an attempt to "rid our own country of a useless and pernicious, if not a dangerous portion of its population to spread the arts of civilized life" to "a benighted portion of the globe". Unexpectedly (at least for me) these "half-civilized" settlers colonized the indigenous population and created an apartheid and exploitative country dominated by an Americo Liberian oligarchy for more than a century.
In 1980, an indigenous general called Samuel Doe overthrew the government just to reinforce an even more ruthless and repressive regime. Interestingly, he received $500 million (!?) from the US gov simply to frustrate the Libyan dictator Quadafi, who was aspiring to spread radical Islamism in Western Africa. Various rebel groups rose up against Doe, and Charles Taylor, who cleverly exploited the ethnic animosity and illegal timber and diamond trade to earn $75m annually, eventually gained the upper hand and won the election in 1997 after 7 years of bloody civil war. But the crisis only got worse and he was forced into exile in 2003.
This is a very very sad tragedy of an impoverished country with a plethora of blood-thirsty villains and almost no hero. All the war factions seemed to fight for no noble cause, some attempted to prolong the war to benefit from the uncontrollable black market. ECOMOG, the Western African peacekeeping force, were equally evil, also taking part in raping, looting and illegal trade. France conducted iron ore trade with Charles Taylor during the height of the war. The UN was rendered almost powerless and America refused to save its "stepchild". The war was filled with barbarity and ignorant mysticism beyond belief (i.e ritual killings, mutilations, cannibalism) and clearly than ever manifested the crisis that Robert Kaplan had envisioned in "The Coming Anarchy".
But there were several episodes in the story that made me laugh, not particularly because i was entertained, because they were disturbingly comical:
1, after the fraudulent election in 1985, Doe manipulated the vote counting process and claimed 51% of the votes. the US State Dep unwittingly appraised him: "The prospects for national reconciliation were brightened by Doe's claim that he won only a narrow 51% election victory virtually unheard of in the rest of African where incumbent rulers normally claim victories of 95 to 100%". Ronald Reagan lovingly called him "Chairman Doe" (Wow!).
2,After Doe took office, he banned all unauthorized gatherings lest the Liberian people’s “jubilation might get out hand”.
3, One of the rebel groups, the Liberian Peace Council army was called“Butt Naked Battalion”: they went into battle naked in the belief this would render them impervious to enemy fire. The general “we were nude, fearless, drunk and homicidal. We killed hundreds of people. But God Telephoned me and told me that i was not the hero so I stopped and became a preacher”.
Generally, I like the book but sometimes it seems to me the book didn't go through any editing process, littered with simple grammatical errors. The torrent of acronyms and hordes of different names, groups, parties confused me too. But it provides a useful review of the endless catastrophe in war-torn western african countries.
April 1, 2012
This reads more like a thesis paper than a book and is filled with grammatical errors.
The argument that the U.S. is somehow responsible for the failure of Liberia is weak and never convincingly made. I expect the concept was added after the fact to inject a little controversy in order to have something to say on the jacket. In fact, in the end Pham does an about face and argues that the the U.S. has a responsibility to get involved in weak states that can not stand on their own. Ultimately, the worst he can say is that the U.S. policy towards Liberia was one of benign neglect.
Pham does a much better job covering the history of Liberia itself, and the book is worth reading for that purpose. That being said, the history of Liberia is a gruesome story of ignorant savages committing almost unspeakable atrocities against each other while parodying a modern nation state.
The argument that the U.S. is somehow responsible for the failure of Liberia is weak and never convincingly made. I expect the concept was added after the fact to inject a little controversy in order to have something to say on the jacket. In fact, in the end Pham does an about face and argues that the the U.S. has a responsibility to get involved in weak states that can not stand on their own. Ultimately, the worst he can say is that the U.S. policy towards Liberia was one of benign neglect.
Pham does a much better job covering the history of Liberia itself, and the book is worth reading for that purpose. That being said, the history of Liberia is a gruesome story of ignorant savages committing almost unspeakable atrocities against each other while parodying a modern nation state.
May 23, 2009
extremely informative, but not for the casual reader.
May 31, 2016
Good for context.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews