1.1              BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The Liberian conflict was the first to reveal the scale of governance deficits in African states. West Africa was home to many authoritarian regimes, which were shored up by superpower allies during the Cold War and which could no longer count on that support in a new dispensation (Kuna, 2013). Thus, it was possible to reveal the structural instability in many of these states where governance was characterized by patronage politics and by social and economic exclusion. With new conditionality to for external support, including, for example, democracy and good governance, opposition groups and citizens were for the first time in decades able demand change and accountability from their rulers. Some rulers heeded the call for change and averted an escalation to violent conflict (in Mali and Benin). Others (Liberia) did not seem to understand the realities of the time. The end result was the escalation of conflict and a challenge to the regime through armed force (Adekeye, 2016).