Liberia: Political System and Socializing Agents - Research Paper Example

The constitution that was adopted for the country was a model that was curved from the United States Constitution. The True Whig Party attained the presidential position in 1878 and remained controlled of it until 1980. In the 19th century, several armed conflicts took place involving the Americo settlers and the native people of Liberia. The ultimate revolt undertaken by the native people against the settlers was first suppressed in 1930 when Liberia was trying to establish and structure its modern economy (Europa Publication Limited, 2002, p. 563). Literature Review The history surrounding Liberia’s political system indicates that the political system was made up of a legislative branch, an executive, and an already existing judicial system.

The president was in charge of the executive. The legislative branch of the government was similar to the American system as it was composed of 30 seats of senates and 64 seats of House representatives. The Judicial system incorporated the Supreme Court, the criminal magistrate, and appeals courts. The mayors were in charge of the key towns throughout the country and lastly, the political system in Liberia was composed of the indigenous and local system of chieftaincy government that still had a huge impact on the indigenous people.

Initially, the Liberian government was dominated by the Americo-Liberians under the presidency of President William Tubman, but things were bound to change after allowing the indigenous people to participate fully in shaping the country’s political destiny (Davies, 2008, p. 628). Political system and socializing agents Access to Liberia’s population was difficult given the fact that the majority of its citizens lived in remote areas of the country. The majority of Liberia’s population was not familiar with formal education and in addition to this, the social cohesion and integration levels between the existing ethnic groups had diminished giving rise to civil unrest and political instability.

According to Bush, in comparison to other regional countries, the Liberian government was well equipped with abundant natural resources as well as human capital. However, this did not reflect on Liberia’s economic growth. The reason behind the unsustainable growth of the economy was the government’s failure to establish broad policies that would act as the key to growth and development. The lack of proper commitment to dealing with social justice has been attributed to weak macroeconomic policies.

The social exclusion of Liberia’s majority population, poor governance, and lack of proper economic opportunities have all led to the downfall of the country’s social decline and long-term economic objectives (Buseh, 2008, p. 21 & 22). According to Burrowes, Liberia was a territory that was governed by the Liberian government. This was indicated by the payment of taxes, which were remitted to the national government by the existing socializing institutions such as churches and schools (Burrowes, 2004, p. 19). Recommendations Regional organizations such as ECOWAS have a major role to play in restoring peace and stability in Liberia.

Its role is crucial in the sense that it is through its charters that it agreed to offer any assistance and aid to its member states in case of a calamity. In addition to this, the ECOWAS organization had also agreed to any arms threat that is directed at any of its member states would amount to aggression directed at the entire community of states. This, therefore, means that it is the responsibility of regional organizations such as ECOWAS to ensure that there is no destabilization of the political system or peace within its member states. This is evident by ECOWAS's intervention in August 1990 to come up with a resolution for Liberia’s conflict situation. Despite the steps taken by ECOWAS more needs to be done to resolve the conflict issue in Liberia once and for all (Sirleaf, 2010, p. 6).