I Fear, Therefore I Am: Victimhood and the Struggle for Ontological Security in the Liberia Truth Commission

Abstract

Civil wars cause extreme insecurities, both physical and ontological. Ontological security is the state of identity stability and predictability, generated by social and cultural routines and the continuity of collective identities and the meanings they produce. What is the impact of civil war on dynamics of ontological security and insecurity? And is it possible to prevent the reconstruction of ontological security around exclusionary identities? The paper develops a theoretical framework for the analysis of ontological insecurity during and after civil wars, and examines it in the case of the Liberian civil war (1989–2003). The war saw the mobilisation and victimisation of large parts of the population in various ways, introducing unprecedented instability and unpredictability, and causing widespread ontological insecurity. Ontological insecurity in the wake of the war resulted in extreme mistrust and a lingering sense of victimisation. The Liberia TRC, among other attempts to address the injustices of the past, did not resolve these complexes, but rather led to the reconstruction of ontological security around the ‘victim’ identity in the country, with dire implications for transitional justice in the country.

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper was presented on the panel, ‘Ontological Security in IR: Expanding the Research Agenda’, at the International Studies Association Annual Meeting, 16 March 2016. The author wishes to thank Felix Berenskoetter and Jennifer Mitzen for their valuable comments on previous drafts, as well as to two anonymous reviewers for their insightful notes and suggestions.