Corruption and state politics in Sierra Leone
By: William Reno.
Series: African studies series ;; 83
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Cambridge [England]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 229
Subjects: Political corruption -- Sierra Leone; Business and politics -- Sierra Leone; International business enterprises -- Sierra Leone -- Political activity
Description: William Reno provides a powerful, scholarly yet shocking account of the inner workings of an African state. He focuses upon the ties between foreign firms and African rulers in Sierra Leone, where politicians and warlords use private networks that exploit relationships with international businesses to buttress their wealth and so extend their powers of patronage.

This permits them to expand the reach of their governments in unorthodox ways, but in the process they undermine the bureaucracy of their own states. Dr Reno suggests that as the post-colonial state is eroded there is a return to the enclave economies and private armies that characterized the pre-colonial and colonial arrangements between European businessmen or administrators and some African political figures.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-222) and index.