The Impact of Autocratic Rule on Individual Freedom, Peace and Security in Sierra Leone
Abstract
This paper focuses on the impact of autocratic rule on individual freedom, peace and security in Sierra Leone based on the Lockean idea of ‘‘Social Contract’’. The author argues that Locke had lost fate in the peaceful co-existence of men in the state of nature in which Lock claimed many things are wanting. The society is said to be more peaceful when there are means to maintain freedom, peace and security. To achieve this end, society of men must come into agreement with each other in order to ascribe roles and responsibilities to people in manning the affairs of the state. The work contends that the political thoughts provided by Lock served as a revolutionary tool for radical political thinkers in history and modern times. It set the platform for the causes of most civil disobediences and political revolutions especially, when men of the legislative order failed to deliver the good for which they were elected. Reviews of equally similar scholarly writings suggest that these revolutionary trends continue to have serious grip on the role of the state in recent times. The paper investigates the areas where states have gone wrong in living up to their tasks and concludes that states that have bridged the social contract have been plunged into conflict leading to the complete dissolution of the autocratic order as in the case of the Sierra Leone’s civil war, 1991 – 2002.References
D. S. Lutz, ‘‘The Declaration of Independence as Part of an American National Compact.’’ Publius 19.1 (1989): 41-58. Print.
L. G. Schwoerer, ‘‘Locke, Lockean Ideas, and the Glorious Revolution.’’ Journal of the History of Ideas 51.4 (1990): 531-548. Print.
J. Locke, Two Treatises of Government: In the Former the False Principles and Foundation of Sir Robert Filmer and His Followers, are Detected and Overthrown. The Latter is An Essay Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government. New ed. Corrected. Vol V. London: Thomas Tegg; W. Sharpe and Son, 1823. Print.
T. Hobbes, 1651a. Leviathan. Ed. C.B Macpherson London: Penguin Books 1985. Print.
G. S. Kavka, Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1986. Print.
Joe, A. D. Alie, ‘‘What Went Wrong and Why?’’ Bound to Cooperate: Conflict, Peace and People in Sierra Leone. Ed. Anatole Ayissi and Robin Edward Poulton. Geneva: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, 2006. 29 – 34. Print.
James O. Hancey, ‘‘John Locke and the Law of Nature.’’ Political Theory 4.4 (1976): 439-454. Print.
J. Dunn, ‘‘The Political Thoughts of John Locke: An Historical Account of the Argument of the ‘Two Treatises of Government.’’. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1982. Print.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, ‘‘Man was born free and he is almost everywhere in chains.’’ The Basic Political Writings. Trans. Donald A. Cress. Hackett Publishing Company 1987. Print. 49.
N. Alan. ‘‘Explanation and Justification in Political Philosophy.’’ Ethics 97.1 (1986): 154-176. Print.
D. Schmidtz, ‘‘Justifying the State.’’ Ethics 101.1 (1990): 89-102. Print.
E. C. Gardner, ‘‘John Locke: Justice and the Social Compact.’’ Journal of Law and Religion 9.2 (1992): 347-37. Print.
L. Ward, ‘‘Locke on Executive Power and Liberal Constitutionalism. Canadian Journal of Political Science 38.3 (2005): 719-744. Print.
S. Ratnapala, ‘‘John Locke's Doctrine of the Separation of Powers: A Re-Evaluation.’’ American Journal of Jurisprudence 38.1 Art. 9 (1993): 189-220. Print.
J. T Scott, ‘‘The Sovereignless State and Locke’s Language of Obligation.’’ The American Political Review 94.3 (2000): 547-561. Print.
I. Abdullah, ‘‘Bush Path to Destruction: The Origin and Character of the Revolutionary United Front/Sierra Leone.’’ Journal of Modern African Studies 36.2 (1998): 203-235. Print.
F. Hayward, ‘‘State Decay and Fragmentation.’’ Contemporary West African States, Ed. Donal B. Cruise, O’Brien, John Dunn and Richard Rathbone. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1989. Print.
C. Allen, ‘‘Sierra Leone Politics since Independence.’’ African Affairs 67.269 (1968): 305-329. Print.
J. D. Kandeh, ‘‘Politicization of Ethnic Identities in Sierra Leone.’’ African Studies Review 35.1 (1992): 81-99. Print.
H. J. Fisher, ‘‘Elections and Coups in Sierra Leone, 1967.’’ Journal of Modern African Studies 7.4 (2008): 611 – 636. Web. MOA. 15. Mar. 2015.
Open Society Initiative for West Africa, (OSIWA), 2014. Print.
A. B. Zack-Williams, ‘‘Kamajors, 'Sobel' & the Militariat: Civil Society & the Return of the Military in Sierra Leonean Politics.’’ Review of African Political Economy 24.73 (1997): 373-380. Print.
Authors who submit papers with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- By submitting the processing fee, it is understood that the author has agreed to our terms and conditions which may change from time to time without any notice.
- It should be clear for authors that the Editor In Chief is responsible for the final decision about the submitted papers; have the right to accept\reject any paper. The Editor In Chief will choose any option from the following to review the submitted papers:A. send the paper to two reviewers, if the results were negative by one reviewer and positive by the other one; then the editor may send the paper for third reviewer or he take immediately the final decision by accepting\rejecting the paper. The Editor In Chief will ask the selected reviewers to present the results within 7 working days, if they were unable to complete the review within the agreed period then the editor have the right to resend the papers for new reviewers using the same procedure. If the Editor In Chief was not able to find suitable reviewers for certain papers then he have the right to accept\reject the paper.B. sends the paper to a selected editorial board member(s). C. the Editor In Chief himself evaluates the paper.
- Author will take the responsibility what so ever if any copyright infringement or any other violation of any law is done by publishing the research work by the author
- Before publishing, author must check whether this journal is accepted by his employer, or any authority he intends to submit his research work. we will not be responsible in this matter.
- If at any time, due to any legal reason, if the journal stops accepting manuscripts or could not publish already accepted manuscripts, we will have the right to cancel all or any one of the manuscripts without any compensation or returning back any kind of processing cost.
- The cost covered in the publication fees is only for online publication of a single manuscript.