Domestic Legitimacy and (Non)Accountability for Sexual Violence in Liberia

• In Event: Intersecting Gender and Armed Conflict

Abstract

How does legitimacy accrue to governments of conflict-affected states? One way that governments try to bolster their domestic legitimacy during and after civil war is by demonstrating that they can and will hold themselves and others accountable for sexual violence perpetrated during war (Lee 2022; Loken et al. 2018). However, we know little about whether and how accountability efforts actually affect the views citizens hold about their state. We argue that domestic accountability measures for sexual violence, particularly trials, have gendered effects on state legitimacy. We conduct an original survey experiment in Liberia to assess the effects of hypothetical trials on how citizens evaluate their state alongside measures of general well-being and perceived security. This study contributes to the discussion on the unique nature of accountability for gender-based crimes and raises questions about how legitimacy can be garnered through justice provision in conflict-affected states.

Authors

• Summer Lindsey, Rutgers University, New Brunswick

• Sumin Lee, Texas A&M University