Sierra Leone and Self-Management. Political and Security Environmental History.

A Book on Sierra Leone. Unresponsive and ineffective governance is a barrier to peace and prosperity around the world.

While the nations of the Middle East are just beginning to grapple with popular demands for democratic reform, a similar wave of democratization that began in the 1990s has already transformed the political landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa. By 2006, nearly every state in the region had emerged from protracted periods of authoritarian rule and violent civil conflict to declare some form of democratic governance.

Freedom House reports that fewer than ten of those states are actually free, and many more are currently at a crossroad in their democratic development. The West African Republic of Sierra Leone, listed by Freedom House as 'partially free', is one electoral democracy about to be tested.

Democracy has a very short history in Sierra Leone. On November 17, Sierra Leoneans will democratically elect a president and 112 members of parliament for just the third time since gaining independence in 1961, and after enduring 40 years of predatory politics.