Of the multitude of challenges facing Liberia as it emerges from a devastating civil conflict, none is more fundamental than the challenge of reconciliation and capacity-building in the context of the country's reintegration into the West Africa sub-region. Such was the finding of a two-day Liberian National Seminar on Regional Integration held in Monrovia on 21-22 January 2008. This book is a compendium of research by Liberians for the seminar, under a project of UNESCO's Department for Human and Social Sciences, which attempts to discuss these and other challenges facing Liberia as the nation emerges from a decade-long upheaval that destroyed most of its human and materila resources.
The seminar papers reproduced in this book tackle a range of themes seeking to explain how the African continent's oldest Republic reached this crucial point, and exploring what remains to be done both by the country and by the region before Liberia can fully reintegrate with its neighbouring States within regional structures that are its best bet for securing a peaceful and prosperous future.