Health and Peacebuilding

Resuscitating the Failed State in Sierra Leone

Bibliographic Data

ID4445292
AuthorsSimon Rushton (0000-0003-1055-9871, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume19
Issue4
Pages441-456
Publication date2005-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Relations (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-1178 • E-ISSN: 1741-2862
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0047117805058534
OpenAlexW1964730527
LanguageEN
Citations received5

In recent years it has increasingly been claimed that health-sector initiatives have the potential to make a meaningful contribution to post-conflict peacebuilding. This article examines two types of such claims - that health can act as a 'bridge for peace', and that health-sector reconstruction can assist in rebuilding the social contract and reestablishing the legitimacy of the government - and how they played out in the case of Sierra Leone. In this case there was an opportunity for health-sector assistance to go beyond mere humanitarian relief and for it to play an active role in promoting peace and stability. It is argued that the best chance of success may lie in a successful blending of Health as a Bridge for Peace-type approaches and 'top-down' government-centred interventions as the country moves from the immediate post-war relief phase to the longer-term process of securing future peace and stability

Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Legitimacy · Peacebuilding · Political science · Politics · Psychological intervention · Sierra leone · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Global Security and Public Health · Health and Conflict Studies · Law · Medicine · Nursing · Public Administration

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