From Civil Strife to Peace Building: Examining Private Sector Involvement in West African Reconstruction (Studies in International Governance) - Softcover

Hany Besada (editor)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1554580528 ISBN 13: 9781554580521

Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2009

Synopsis

From Civil Strife to Peace Building examines peace-building efforts in the fragile West African states of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and CA'te d'Ivoire, with a focus on the role of the private sector in leading the reconstruction initiatives. Given that aid and debt relief, the traditional remedies for dependency and underdevelopment, have not been effective, the private sector is increasingly viewed as a major player in the revival of regional economies. Private sector support, however, requires government intervention to improve investment climates, curb corruption, strengthen the security sector, and reduce the cost of doing business. The contributors discuss ways in which West African governments can encourage the greater involvement of business in humanitarian support with incentives that demonstrate alignment with business objectives and profit margins, making humanitarian support simple and, more importantly, profitable and sustainable for both local and foreign investors. Co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)

About this title

Review:

"I am certain that those who are working on private-sector reconstruction - not just in Liberia, Côte dIvoire, and Sierra Leone, but in other fragile states as well - will learn from the practices, assessments, and analyses offered by the practitioners and private-sector development experts that this volume brings together."--Jonathan G. Coppel

"The success of post-conflict reconstruction operations depends fundamentally on domestic, not external, actions. Similarly key to long-term stability is finding the means to grow the economy and provide jobs, especially for large numbers of young people. Properly harnessed, their energy could offer tremendous development potential, but unemployed and alienated they could be a damaging source of social destabilization. From Civil Strife to Peace Building makes an important and overdue contribution by putting the private sector at the heart of this endeavour, without whose central involvement post-conflict operations are doomed, inevitably, to fail."--Dr. Greg Mills

Synopsis:

This book examines peace-building efforts in the fragile West African states of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote d'Ivoire, with a focus on the role of the private sector in leading the reconstruction initiatives. Given that aid and debt relief, the traditional remedies for dependency and underdevelopment, have not been effective, the private sector is increasingly viewed as a major player in the revival of regional economies. Private sector support, however, requires government intervention to improve investment climates, curb corruption, strengthen the security sector, and reduce the cost of doing business.The contributors discuss ways in which West African governments can encourage greater involvement of business in humanitarian support with incentives that demonstrate alignment with business objectives and profit margins, making humanitarian support simple and, more importantly, profitable and sustainable for both local and foreign investors. This book will be of interest to scholars in international relations and peace-building, policy-makers, and business leaders interested in international investment. It was co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1554580528
• ISBN 13: 9781554580521
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312