Once a world leader, now an IU scholar

He has led an entire nation during one of its most trying times. He has helped bring peace to a country struck by civil war. He has been thrown in jail for his efforts. But what's even more remarkable about this former president of Liberia is that he also works at IU.\nAfter growing up in Liberia and receiving an American education, Amos Sawyer headed the transitional government of Liberia in the early 1990s during its civil war.\n"This was an extraordinary situation, not a normal constitution situation," he said. "What was meant to be a six-month exercise lasted for four years."\nBut Sawyer's history with the country extends far back before the time of the war. Sawyer was born in Liberia in 1945 but left the country to attend Northwestern, earning his Ph.D. in political science. He then returned to Liberia to become a professor of political science at the University of Liberia and eventually was hired as a dean in 1980. \nDuring that time, the military overthrew the government and Sawyer spoke against military leader Sgt. Samuel Doe, warning that Liberia's democratic process was being hijacked. These conflicts led to Sawyer's arrest in 1984. After being in jail for several months, he was put on house arrest, he said.\n"They don't tell you they are arresting you for things you say; they find other reasons," he said. "For about 10 months, my movements were restricted. I could not participate in public gatherings. Not many people could visit me. The press was not to publish anything I said. ... It was a military dictatorship."\nSawyer left the country again in 1986 and came to IU to give lectures and work for the University. But a few years later, he decided to go back to his conflict-ridden home to promote the issues that once sent him to jail.\n"When the war started in 1989, things had been bubbling and bubbling, and by 1989 the whole thing blew up," Sawyer said.\nAfter joining a group that advocated a return to constitutional rule, the Interim Government of National Unity was formed, and Sawyer was asked to head it. Sawyer took office in 1990.\n"Because it was going to take six months, I said 'Well, why not? Maybe this way I can help out,'" he said.\nSawyer worked to bring peace to the country by negotiating with warlords and working to disarm them, he said. But what was supposed to take six months ended up lasting several years. Reaching a peace agreement was the biggest challenge, he said.\n"People were running for their lives," Sawyer said of situation in the country, which had a population of 2.5 million during the war. "This was a state of war. The war engulfed the entire country. People were displaced from their homes. More than 70 percent of the people of the country were displaced. Every village was affected one way or the other in terms of infrastructure. It was a terrible tragedy."\nFrustrated with his failed attempts to bring peace, Sawyer resigned from his presidential post in 1994. Though Sawyer never saw peace during his own reign, the factions in the country finally ceased fighting in 2003. This year the country has accomplished something the United States has yet to achieve -- electing a female president. \n"(President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf) has put in place what I think is a rather competent government, and she brings a lot of strength of personal integrity to the position," Sawyer said.\nStill, when Sawyer reflects on his time as president, he realizes it taught him that a few people can make a big difference, he said.\n"Indeed, you need to have patience," he said. "In a situation where you want effective results, there's a high transaction cost, which means here you must be prepared to hold discussions -- wide-ranging -- and bring people on board."\nThough he plans to return permanently to Liberia at some point, Sawyer currently splits his time between his home country, where he is part of the governor's reform commission, and IU, where he is associate director and research scholar for the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis.\n"My work there enriches the work here, and the work here sort of supports and provides some ideas for the reform agenda," Sawyer said.\nSawyer works closely with Jacqui Bauer, assistant director for the workshop, and Bauer said it's challenging for Sawyer to balance his two lives.\n"But it's so important to him," she said. "The opportunities his country has at this point in its history, they're not going to come up again. I think he's willing to make a lot of personal sacrifices."\nAdjusting to civilian life after being the head of an African government has not been difficult, Sawyer said.\n"I never took my feet off the ground," he said. "My friends were always my friends. I saw the job as an assignment. It didn't change me in any way from what I would normally want to do"