Theoretical Underpinnings of Liberia’s Post Conflict Recovery: Pertinent Lessons for Developing Countries

Post-conflict recovery in underdeveloped and developing countries is always a challenge for political leadership. Liberia has been the victim of 14 years of civil war, due to which GDP experienced a downfall by over 90% making the economic growth process halted. This paper traces the extent of Liberia’s collapse and examines the patterns of post-conflict recovery as an application complexity theory and a model which can be followed by other conflict confronting developing countries. The Paper explores challenges faced by Liberia in strengthening rapid, inclusive, and sustained economic growth and how these challenges were converted into opportunities through dynamic leadership and institutional process that had roots in complexity theory. It examines the policy framework and institutional reforms which set the pace for sustainable economic growth in Liberia. Because of visionary steps by leadership, the economic growth, which was very low before 1999, showed positive improvement after the election in 2005. It was concluded that from 2005 to 2014, the per capita GDP growth rate had been approximately 63% which indicated the remarkable performance of the Liberian Government. Paper presents theoretical perspective to understand challenges of socioeconomic growth and mechanism for its revival in poor conflict-hit underdeveloped and developing countries.