Erosion of the Rule of Law as a Contributing Factor in Civil Conflict: The Case of Sierra Leone

Abstract

The purpose of the paper was to review the extent to which autocratic tendencies, suppression of civil liberties, and government mismanagement between 1968 and 1985 eroded confidence in the Sierra Leone government and laid the foundation for the country’s civil war that began in 1991. It was argued that numerous factors were at the basis of the war, and that corruption, autocratic and patrimonial rule by Siaka Stevens and his ruling party, the All People’s Congress, divided the country and made it ripe for a takeover. The creation of an armed paramilitary organization, the Internal Security Unit, demoralized and alienated both the regular Sierra Leone Police force and the Sierra Leone Army. The climate of corruption and greed—deliberately encouraged by Stevens himself undermined state legitimacy and the rule of law. Furthermore, the creation of a one‐party system of government made the Siaka Stevens regime arrogant and incapable of objectively evaluating government policies and foreseeing weaknesses. The government based its system of giving rewards not on merit, but on loyalty to the party, which in time became synonymous with the state and two primary ethnic groups. Youth unemployment blossomed as the government spent less and less on education. All these factors contributed to the emergence of civil war in 1991.