ABSTRACT

Rebuilding political legitimacy after civil war and state collapse is a challenging task. This paper looks at the role of the Parliament of Sierra Leone in this process. The analysis is concerned with two key areas: descriptive representation of the electorate to build inclusive politics, and elite reconciliation as a means of making democracy the only game in town. Based on data from a survey among Members of Parliament (MPs) and additional qualitative interviews, it will be shown that political representatives are predominantly male, elderly, and highly educated. Using Social Network Analysis, the paper will demonstrate that social similarities, family networks, and networks formed in educational institutions provide the social glue that form Sierra Leone's MPs into an interconnected national elite cutting across party alignments and ethnic origins. While elite integration is positive for democratization, the underrepresentation of women, youth, and the poor presents future challenges to political inclusion.

摘要

内战和国家崩溃后，重建政治合法性是一项艰巨的任务。本文着眼于塞拉利昂议会在这一过程中的作用。该分析涉及两个关键领域：选民的描述性代表，以建立包容性政治；以及和解，以使民主成为镇上唯一的游戏。根据议会议员调查和其他定性访谈的数据，将表明政治代表主要是男性，老年人和受过良好教育的人。使用社交网络分析，本文将证明社交相似性，家庭网络以及在教育机构中形成的网络提供了形成塞拉利昂 将国会议员转变为相互联系的民族精英，跨越政党结盟和种族血统。精英融合对民主化是积极的，但妇女，青年和穷人的代表性不足对政治包容提出了未来的挑战。