DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2017.4.25048

Abstract: The First Liberian Civil War which started in late 1989 and ended in 1997 with the election of Charles Taylor, the leader of one of the armed rebel factions, the President of the country, is the subject of study. The victims of the conflict count in 150 thousands, and over a million people became refugees. The author examines various aspects of contribution of Liberia's neighbor countries - the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Republic of Sierra Leone, the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, the Republic of Guinea, the Republic of The Gambia, the Republic of Ghana, as well as the USA and France. Over the course of the research the author used the comparative and historical method, and the methods of historical analysis that allowed him to study the regional aspects of the Liberian conflict, and the efforts of the peacekeeping mission of The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), mostly the Nigerian military detachment, and the contribution of the UN in the resolution of the Liberian political crisis. The author addresses a seldom-studied issue of the formation of an economy of war during African conflicts (Liberian, in this case), which involves, among other things, the plundering of natural resources of the state in conflict, and the rapid growth of contraband of various resources, as well as weapons, drugs and other merchandise, by all armed sides of the conflict, as well as regional participants, including the peacekeepers.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2017.4.24306

Abstract: The article analyzes a number of important problems of social anthropology and ethnology, which were touched upon in the monograph by M.N. Guboglo "Anthropology of Trust", and still requiring to be discussed. The background of instability, which is typical for most countries of the contemporary world, requires us to pay close attention to the realities of interaction between different peoples. Standing out among the topical issues of ethnic contact study and the practices of their resolution is the need for establishing academically-grounded cooperative relations between central government authorities and the populations of regions with complex ethnic and national composition - otherwise it often transitions into conflict. The usage of theoretical - historiographical method allowed the author to examine the problems of interaction of power and ethnicity from a fresh point of view. The theoretical and methodological analysis of the problem of interaction between ethno-national communities and power structures leads the author to a well-founded conclusion that the problem of interethnic interactions, aside academic research, also require the development of practical measures to prevent conflicts which are specific to each situation. The author stresses the conclusion that it is necessary to consider the factor of frustration under the conditions of instability of the social environment that easily grows into acute conflicts of an interethnic nature.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2017.4.24945

Abstract: The object of this study is the influence of the issue of national minorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the security in the Great African Lakes region. The author examines the issues of the displeasure of the Tutsi Congolese (the Banyamulenge) regarding their position in the society, their demands for the resolution of the issues of harassment. The author also focuses on the protection of interests by a defined ethnic group, on the brink of developing a political consciousness. The article examines various political associations, including nationalist parties. An accent is made on the so-called "Banyamulenge issue", and the following destabilization in the eastern regions of the country. The methods of empirical political studies allowed to discover the correlation between those phenomena, and to define the contradictions in the political process in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The author draws the conclusion that unsolved national issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo are the reason for the emergence of new conflict hotspots, which, combined with existing ethnic conflicts, grow into large-scale conflicts with high victim counts. According to the author, the reason for nation-based conflicts is the weakness of political authority, the lack of influence by the central authorities on the regional political processes, as well as the complexity of the interaction between the numerous ethnic groups that constitute the country's population.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2017.4.24947

Abstract: The focus of attention is the East African Community (EAC). This economic association of East African countries today includes the following countries: Burundi, the Rwanda Republic, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan. The author makes an effort to outline the trends in the economical and political integration of the EAC member countries after they achieved state sovereignty. Accent is made on how intense these trends are on various stages of the evolution of EAC and its potential to achieve a political unity between its member states within the respective borders of a federal state. Basing on the principle of historism and employing the method of historical reconstruction the author outlines the main determinants of the integration processes in East Africa. The author also points out the factors that counteract the formation of a federation and the emergence of a new subject of International Law in this region. Employing said methods allowed the author to make a substantiated conclusion that the formation of a sovereign federal state, based on the existing regional economic alliance (EAC), is impeded by the recently-emerged and potential tribal and religious conflict in East African countries. Social, cultural and linguistical diversity and growing ambition of the heads of state and the political elites.

DOI: 10.7256/2454-0617.2017.4.24637

Abstract: The focus of research are the practices of mutual help in Dar es Salaam, a modern Tanzanian megapolis, serving as a substitute for (largely absent) government support. The article examines the self-organization practices of the poorest Tanzanian villagers who gravitate to the big city in search of a better life, who establish mutual help groups on the basis of trust, which replace the function of government regulation with traditional values of rural areas. Attention is drawn to the attitude of the members of such groups to legal registration and to the possibility of turning to the police in case of an internal conflict. The methods of research include immersed observation and interview, both formal and informal, conducted by O.V. Icanchenko during the expedition to Dar es Salaam in 2015. During the course of this expedition over 30 interviews were recorded with both, mutual group members and non-member citizens who are aware of such groups. Over the course of data analysis the authors come to a conclusion that the Tanzanians who moved to the city recreate the communal way of life of rural areas, but in adapted forms: neighbors and colleagues become their new environment that provides social guarantees and provides help in difficult situation instead of relatives, and the leaders of mutual help groups help resolve conflict instead of the police. Groups themselves, while emulating certain features of the government bureaucracy, still put much faith in trust, friendly neighborhood relations, and the power of moral obligations.