Logo: to the web site of the Swedish Defence University

fhs.se
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
The West Side Boys: military navigation in the Sierra Leone civil war
Swedish Defence University, Department of Security, Strategy and Leadership (ISSL), Strategy Section.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2022-6985
Swedish Defence University, Department of Security, Strategy and Leadership (ISSL), Strategy Section.
2008 (English)In: Journal of Modern African Studies, ISSN 0022-278X, E-ISSN 1469-7777, Vol. 46, no 3, p. 487-511Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The West Side Boys were one of several military actors in the Sierra Leonean civil war (1991–2002). A splinter group of the army, the WSB emerged as a key player in 1999–2000. In most Western media accounts, the WSB appeared as nothing more than renegade, anarchistic bandits, devoid of any trace of long-term goals. By contrast, this article aims to explain how the WSB used well-devised military techniques in the field; how their history and military training within the Sierra Leone army shaped their notion of themselves and their view of what they were trying to accomplish; and, finally, how military commanders and politicians employed the WSB as a tactical instrument in a larger map of military and political strategies. It is in the politics of a military economy that this article is grounded.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2008. Vol. 46, no 3, p. 487-511
National Category
Social Sciences
Research subject
Statsvetenskap med inriktning mot strategi och säkerhetspolitik
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-510DOI: 10.1017/S0022278X08003388ISI: 000259044900006OAI: oai:DiVA.org:fhs-510DiVA, id: diva2:302980
Available from: 2010-03-10 Created: 2010-03-10 Last updated: 2020-02-05Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full text

Authority records

Utas, MatsJörgel, Magnus

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Utas, MatsJörgel, Magnus
By organisation
Strategy Section
In the same journal
Journal of Modern African Studies
Social Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 303 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • harvard-cite-them-right
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf