Ambiguity and Methodological Transparency in the Study of Civil War: An Answer to Thémner’s ‘Lingering Command Structures’ in Liberia

ABSTRACT

Researchers who study civil wars and other armed conflicts are bound to face ambiguities. This article continues the discussion about research brokers in conflict zones that started in a 2019 special issue of Civil Wars and scrutinises the finding that Liberian wartime command structures continue to linger in informal guises long to the post-conflict. Absent transparent acknowledging of the ambiguities it glosses over, past scholarship risks a far too neat story that imbues arguments with untested assumptions. The result neither captures the complexity of contemporary realities of Liberian former combatants nor helps Liberia to move forward from its difficult past.

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Ilmari Käihkö

Ilmari Käihkö is an Associate Professor at the Swedish Defence University, and a researcher at Södertörn University. He has spent 2.5 years in the fields of development cooperation, military and research in West, Central and East Africa and Ukraine. Veteran of the Finnish Defence Forces and specialised in the study of contemporary armed conflicts, his research interests include contemporary war and military sociology, as well as the methods that contribute to their investigation.