Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-268) and index.

1. Voices from the battlefield: ex-combatants' views on root causes of the war and their reasons for participation -- 2. The socio-economic crisis of rural youth -- 3. Conflict in Sierra Leone and recruits to t he war -- 4. The world of the RUF -- 5. Malfunctions and atrocities -- 6. Cultivating peace: RUF ex-combatants' involvement in post-war agricu ltural projects -- 7. Footpaths to reintegration?: agrarian solutions f or the reintegration of ex-combatants -- 8. Conclusion: the RUF as a ru ral underclass project.

"The armed conflict in Sierra Leone and the extreme violence of the main rebel faction - the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) - have challe nged scholars and members of the international community to come up wit h explanations. Up to this point, though, conclusions about the nature of the war are mainly drawn from accounts of civilian victims and comme ntators who had access to only one side of the war. The present study a ddresses this currently incomplete understanding of the conflict by foc using on the direct experiences and interpretations of protagonists, pa ying special attention to the hitherto neglected, and often underage, c adres of the RUF. The data presented challenges the widely canvassed no tion of the Sierra Leone conflict as a war motivated by 'greed, not gri evance'. Rather, it points to a rural crisis expressed in terms of unre solved tensions between landowners and marginalized rural youth, furthe r reinforced and triggered by a collapsing patrimonial state"--Provided by publisher.