Description: "This study examines the forces and mechanisms allowing, and calling for, networks of ex-combatants in Liberia to linger long after the peace agreement was signed in 2003. Original interviews with Liberian ex-combatants provide the basis for a critical look at Liberia's lingering wartime structures by way of following former rebels who, instead of hiding or moving on from their ex-combatant identity, have made use of it in a variety of ways. Rather than abandoning wartime links and command and control structures, as demobilization, disarmament and reintegration initiatives were meant to facilitate, many ex-combatants have for different reason preserved them. They became part, but also mobilisers, of strong networks based on wartime rebel structures that came to affect their lives long after the wars in Liberia were over"--
Brief description: MARIAM BJARNESEN is an associate senior lecturer of war studies in the Department of Security, Strategy, and Leadership at Swedish Defense University.