ABSTRACT
This study, with the aid of empirical evidence, has provided a Clausewitzean and trinitarian explanation for the wars in Liberia and Somalia, which hitherto have usually been described as non-trinitarian. These wars are concerned with politics, the state and the instrumental use of military force. War can be an instrument through which to realise political aims, even in cases where the state has collapsed. Politics was defined as concerned with power, authority and rule. By using these concepts to analyse the main warring factions in the two armed conflicts, it was demonstrated that they strove to increase their power so as to claim legitimacy in order to acquire authority and establish rule.
