Civil Wars Quotes

“Errors in diplomacy, stemming from faulty understanding of the origins of intergroup alliances and the causes of within-group instability, have undoubtedly led to the perpetuation of these wars and resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties.”
― Fotini Christia, Alliance Formation in Civil Wars

“Because of greed and immorality on the part of the foreign invaders that came to enrich themselves, and local tribal politicians that abused the trust placed in them by their people, much of Liberia’s wealth has been squandered. The two civil wars and the Ebola plague that the indigenous people had to endure were devastating and yet, in spite of the pain that has been inflicted, the country still has great potential and is waiting for the influence of a new generation of Liberians that hopefully will have a more positive outlook. Although the United States and the American Colonization Society helped form and sometimes stabilize the country, Liberia is the only African country that has never been a colony.
As usual, it is not because of the many impoverished people that inhabit the country, but rather it is because of human greed and the lust for power of the few, that the country floundered and was plunged into two unforgiving civil wars. During the time that I was there, I was a young man who looked idealistically at the world as an exciting place to find adventure. Fortunately I still see things through the same youthful eyes, and for that I’m grateful! However, I have also become more cynical and can now better understand that every rosebush has thorns.”
― Capt Hank Bracker, The History of Liberia & West Africa

“Today the scale has changed again: we can no longer share Hobbes's assumption that it is only civil wars that are really a menace, that international wars do relatively little harm.”
― J.L. Mackie, Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong