Sierra Leone at the End of the Twentieth Century

The Authors: Earl Conteh-Morgan is Professor of International Studies at the University of South Florida. He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, In addition to many articles published in professional journals, he wrote Democratization in Africa: The Theory and Dynamics of Political Transitions; Japan and the United States: Global Dimensions of Economic Power (Peter Lang, 1992); American Foreign Aid and Global Power Projection; and coedited Peacekeeping in Africa: ECOMOG in Liberia. He was a 1995 Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo, Norway.
Mac Dixon-Fyle is Professor of History at DePauw University in Indiana. He received his Ph.D. in African History from the University of London. He has published various articles on the colonial experience of the plateau Tonga of Northern Rhodesia/Zambia, and on the immigrant Sierra Leoneans/Saro of the Niger Delta. He is the author of A Saro Community in the Niger Delta, 1912-1984: The Potts-Johnsons of Port Harcourt and Their Heirs.

«Conteh-Morgan and Dixon-Fyle have crafted a competent study that at once presents a comprehensive overview of this West African state while situating their analysis within the framework of major theoretical insights extant on politics in the developing world. The result is both a complete and concise study of Sierra Leone's political history from precolonial times up to and including the political convulsions of the late 1990s. What these scholars, themselves Sierra Leonean nationals, have succeeded in doing so admirably is interpreting for both the attentive and general public the outcome of 'politico-economic mismanagement and confusion' in Sierra Leone» - (D. Elwood Dunn, Professor of Political Science, University of the South, Sewanee, TN)
«Conteh-Morgan and Dixon-Fyle offer a well-organized and superbly written account of Sierra Leone - a country that embodies many typical developmental characteristics of other West African states. Contemporary events are clearly presented as the product of the country's evolving history. The analysis contributes academically mature insight in two currently contradictory perceptions of Africa: Are its states collapsing? Or, is the continent about to enter its alleged 'renaissance'?
This timely and thorough account of a country not well known to nonspecialists will be an excellent addition to all African resource collections. Even a cursory examination of the book will reveal its relevant analytic structure, as well as the personal acquaintance of the writers with their subject.» (Karl P. Magyar, Professor, U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College)
«This work is absolutely necessary for an understanding of politics and society in Sierra Leone. It is comprehensive, informative, and theoretically solid. Indeed, it is a much-needed addition to the growing literature on policy, state-society relations, and democratization, or the absence of it, in Africa and Sierra Leone in particular.» (Moses K. Tesi, Editor, 'The