Gender Dynamics of Political Authority in Post-Conflict Liberia.

This paper will examine the nature of political authority in transition in Liberia's post-conflict reconstruction process; particularly, the ways in which such authority is gendered, given Africa's first elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Liberia's case provides a unique opportunity to examine how post-conflict societies can use the reconstruction process to reformulate and enable the nation-state and the challenges such countries face when transitioning out of violent conflict, given the current global environment. This initial post-conflict period has been instrumental to the restructuring of gender roles; women have entered the political spectrum with a gender-balanced agenda that attempts to correct gender inequalities. Evidently, gender further complicates political authority, especially in countries such as Liberia that are in democratic transition. Of particular interest to this paper is the effectiveness of a female-led government and the perception of such among the population. The paper examines the actions taken by the reconstruction government to consider the effects of gender on policy and to design policy accordingly, in an effort to eliminate gender-based inequalities. This paper is based on a qualitative research case study conducted by the author utilizing key informant interviews and focus group discussions in rural and urban Liberia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]