Winning coalitions and ethno-regional politics: The failure of the opposition in the 1990 and 1995 elections in Côte d'Ivoire

African Affairs

Volumn 96, Issue 383, 1997, Pages 215-242

  Crook, Richard C ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEVELOPING COUNTRY; ELECTORAL GEOGRAPHY; ETHNIC MINORITY; INCUMBENCY ROLE; POLITICAL EXCLUSION;

COTE D'IVOIRE;

EID: 0031457234     PISSN: 00019909     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a007826     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. Broadly affirmative answers to this question have been given by Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1976), pp. 526-7, and by Arendt Lijphart, Democracies: Patterns of majoritarian and consensus government in twenty-one countries (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1984), p. 22, and Power Sharing in South Africa (University of California Institute of International Studies, Berkeley, 1985); for general discussions of the issue, see also: Larry Diamond, J. Linz and S. Lipset (eds.), Democracy in Developing Countries, Vol. 2: Africa (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Col., 1988), p. 10; Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional engineering in a divided society (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990); John McGarry and B. O'Leary (eds.), The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation (Routledge, London, 1993).
2. Broadly affirmative answers to this question have been given by Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1976), pp. 526-7, and by Arendt Lijphart, Democracies: Patterns of majoritarian and consensus government in twenty-one countries (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1984), p. 22, and Power Sharing in South Africa (University of California Institute of International Studies, Berkeley, 1985); for general discussions of the issue, see also: Larry Diamond, J. Linz and S. Lipset (eds.), Democracy in Developing Countries, Vol. 2: Africa (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Col., 1988), p. 10; Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional engineering in a divided society (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990); John McGarry and B. O'Leary (eds.), The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation (Routledge, London, 1993).
3. Broadly affirmative answers to this question have been given by Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1976), pp. 526-7, and by Arendt Lijphart, Democracies: Patterns of majoritarian and consensus government in twenty-one countries (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1984), p. 22, and Power Sharing in South Africa (University of California Institute of International Studies, Berkeley, 1985); for general discussions of the issue, see also: Larry Diamond, J. Linz and S. Lipset (eds.), Democracy in Developing Countries, Vol. 2: Africa (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Col., 1988), p. 10; Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional engineering in a divided society (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990); John McGarry and B. O'Leary (eds.), The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation (Routledge, London, 1993).
4. Broadly affirmative answers to this question have been given by Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1976), pp. 526-7, and by Arendt Lijphart, Democracies: Patterns of majoritarian and consensus government in twenty-one countries (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1984), p. 22, and Power Sharing in South Africa (University of California Institute of International Studies, Berkeley, 1985); for general discussions of the issue, see also: Larry Diamond, J. Linz and S. Lipset (eds.), Democracy in Developing Countries, Vol. 2: Africa (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Col., 1988), p. 10; Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional engineering in a divided society (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990); John McGarry and B. O'Leary (eds.), The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation (Routledge, London, 1993).
5. Broadly affirmative answers to this question have been given by Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1976), pp. 526-7, and by Arendt Lijphart, Democracies: Patterns of majoritarian and consensus government in twenty-one countries (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1984), p. 22, and Power Sharing in South Africa (University of California Institute of International Studies, Berkeley, 1985); for general discussions of the issue, see also: Larry Diamond, J. Linz and S. Lipset (eds.), Democracy in Developing Countries, Vol. 2: Africa (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Col., 1988), p. 10; Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional engineering in a divided society (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990); John McGarry and B. O'Leary (eds.), The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation (Routledge, London, 1993).
6. Broadly affirmative answers to this question have been given by Crawford Young, The Politics of Cultural Pluralism (University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1976), pp. 526-7, and by Arendt Lijphart, Democracies: Patterns of majoritarian and consensus government in twenty-one countries (Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1984), p. 22, and Power Sharing in South Africa (University of California Institute of International Studies, Berkeley, 1985); for general discussions of the issue, see also: Larry Diamond, J. Linz and S. Lipset (eds.), Democracy in Developing Countries, Vol. 2: Africa (Lynne Rienner, Boulder, Col., 1988), p. 10; Donald L. Horowitz, A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional engineering in a divided society (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1990); John McGarry and B. O'Leary (eds.), The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation (Routledge, London, 1993).
7. The 60 identifiable groups in Côte d'Ivoire are conventionally grouped by ethnographers into five main cultural and linguistic clusters: Akan, Senoufo, Mandé North and South, and Krou. Even the largest single group, the Akan-speaking Baoulé, only account for around 20 percent of the population, and the Akan cluster itself for around 26 percent, see Richard Crook, 'State, society and political institutions in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana', in J. Manor (ed.), Rethinking Third World Politics (Longman, London, 1991), pp. 218-20; Aristide Zolberg, One 'Party Government in the Ivory Coast (Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1964), pp. 11-17. Another very similar case is Tanzania.
8. The 60 identifiable groups in Côte d'Ivoire are conventionally grouped by ethnographers into five main cultural and linguistic clusters: Akan, Senoufo, Mandé North and South, and Krou. Even the largest single group, the Akan-speaking Baoulé, only account for around 20 percent of the population, and the Akan cluster itself for around 26 percent, see Richard Crook, 'State, society and political institutions in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana', in J. Manor (ed.), Rethinking Third World Politics (Longman, London, 1991), pp. 218-20; Aristide Zolberg, One 'Party Government in the Ivory Coast (Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1964), pp. 11-17. Another very similar case is Tanzania.
9. According to McGarry and O'Leary, Politics of Ethnic Conflict, p. 36, such multi-polar societies, where the divisions between the segments are moderate rather than deeply entrenched and mobilized, are most suited to the development of consensual forms of politics, if not democracy.
10. Guy Hermet, R. Rose and A. Rouquie, Elections Without Choice (Macmillan, London, 1978).
11. Cf. Joel Barkan and J. Okumu, Politics and Public Policy in Kenya and Tanzania (Praeger, London, 1984).
12. John Dunn, Political Obligation in its Historical Context (Cambridge University Press, 1980), p. 180.
13. S. Decalo, 'The processes, prospects and constraints of democratization in Africa', African Affairs, 91, 362 (1992), pp. 7-35.
14. C. Clapham and J. Wiseman, 'Assessing the prospects for the consolidation of democracy in Africa', in John Wiseman (ed.), Democracy and Political Change in Sub-Saharan Africa (Routledge, London, 1995).
15. See Richard Crook, 'Multiparty democracy and political change in Côte d'Ivoire: surviving the crisis', in Wiseman, Democracy and Political Change.
16. Reproduced from Richard Crook, 'Multiparty democracy and political change in Côte d'Ivoire', p. 24.
17. The PP, led by the évolué, first-generation nationalists and cocoa farmers of the Agni, Abé, and Attié peoples, had refused to join Houphouët-Boigny's farmers' association, the Syndical Africain Agricole, and had opposed the PDCI until 1957; see Ruth Schachter-Morgenthau, Political Parties in French-Speaking West Africa (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1964), pp. 177-78 and 181. Seen as an ethnic conflict between Baoulé coffee and cocoa growing migrants and the south-eastern indigenes, the hostility was rooted in the issue of access to land; see Crook, 'Multiparty democracy and political change in Côte d'Ivoire'. During this period, they were stigmatized as the friends of the French colonial administration, until the PDCI itself moved into the position of favoured heir-apparent.
18. The PP, led by the évolué, first-generation nationalists and cocoa farmers of the Agni, Abé, and Attié peoples, had refused to join Houphouët-Boigny's farmers' association, the Syndical Africain Agricole, and had opposed the PDCI until 1957; see Ruth Schachter-Morgenthau, Political Parties in French-Speaking West Africa (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1964), pp. 177-78 and 181. Seen as an ethnic conflict between Baoulé coffee and cocoa growing migrants and the south-eastern indigenes, the hostility was rooted in the issue of access to land; see Crook, 'Multiparty democracy and political change in Côte d'Ivoire'. During this period, they were stigmatized as the friends of the French colonial administration, until the PDCI itself moved into the position of favoured heir-apparent.
19. Crook, 'State, society and political institutions in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana'.
20. See Crook, 'Multiparty democracy and political change in Côte d'Ivoire', for a fuller discussion of this period.
21. Crook, 'Multiparty democracy and political change in Côte d'Ivoire'.
22. A warning shot had been fired in 1990 when the Deputy and former Mayor of Korhogo, Lanciné Gbon Coulibaly, had defected to the opposition, resulting in a 26 percent vote for Gbagbo in the Presidential elections in the Korhogo prefecture. The Deputy was rapidly persuaded to rejoin the PDCI before the legislative elections the following month; Crook, 'Multiparty democracy and political change in Côte d'Ivoire'.
23. Jeune Afrique, 20-26 January 1994. My own interviews with local politicians in the Korhogo region during 1993 also revealed the existence of real PDCI fears of a growing northern consciousness.
24. One of them was Lanciné Coulibaly, the defector of 1990.
25. Jeune Afrique Economique, 16 October 1995, p. 54.
26. Jeune Afrique, 1769, 1-7 December 1994.
27. The northern elements in the party also became more dominant as the need for finance became more paramount. The money came from the established 'big men' of the ex-PDCI northern elite.
28. Jeune Afrique, 1812, 28 September-4 October 1995.
29. La Voie (Abidjan), 17 October 1995.
30. Le Républicain (Abidjan), 13 October, 16 October and 20 October 1995.
31. L'Ivoire (Abidjan), 10 October 1995.
32. Le Républicain, 20 October 1995.
33. Jeune Afrique, 1814, 12-18 October 1995.
34. Fraternité Matin (Abidjan), 20 November 1995. By the end of December 1995, the two main opposition papers La Voie and Le Républicain had been banned again, this time for three months and a journalist and the director of the FPI press group sentenced to two years' jail for publishing false and insulting stories about the Head of State.
35. Indeed, Houphouët-Boigny's own children by his marriage to his first Senegalese wife had been made ineligible as had the children of Fologo himself. Many members of this elite would be embarrassed to have to prove their true 'ivoirite'.
36. Statistics calculated from results published in Fraternité Matin, 28 November 1995.
37. La Voie, 28 November 1995.
38. Fraternité Matin, 13 February 1996.
39. The current situation in Kenya, where the opposition parties have disintegrated into disunity although in demographic/electoral terms they had a potential winning coalition, is another classic case in point; see, 'Kenya opposition self-destructs', The Times (London), 4 April 1996.