Liberia: A Risk Assessment Brief
Liberia’s relatively stable and democratic First Republic collapsed into anarchy in 1979 following an increase in rice prices. In 1985 Samuel Doe seized control of the country in a military coup, and over the next twelve years Liberia would remain a hotspot for internal political, as well as military factionist movements. Numerous mediated cease-fires repeatedly failed to achieve lasting peace, and new insurgency groups, like the NPFL led by Charles Taylor, spawned as a result of discontent.