Charles Taylor: podcast appearances and interviews

Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor is a Liberia-born academic administrator serving as the provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at the University of North Texas. His background includes a diverse career with significant leadership responsibilities. Taylor earned a degree at Bentley College in the United States before returning to Liberia to work in the government of Samuel Doe. His early career was marked by involvement in the Liberian government and subsequent legal challenges, which led to imprisonment and his escape in 1989. Subsequently, he received training as a guerrilla fighter in Libya and returned to Liberia as the leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, a Libyan-backed rebel group. He played a prominent role in Liberia's civil conflicts and was elected president in 1997 as a member of the National Patriotic Party. During his presidency, Taylor supported the Revolutionary United Front rebel group in Sierra Leone and was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which contributed to the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War. Facing international pressure and losing control of much of Liberia, he resigned and went into exile in Nigeria. He was later detained by United Nations authorities and extradited for trial by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. In 2012, Taylor was convicted of multiple charges, including terror, murder, and rape, and sentenced to 50 years in prison. His career and legal history are marked by involvement in serious human rights abuses and war crimes.