The debacle in Côte Dwoire

Journal of Democracy

Volumn 17, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 63-77

  Chirot, Daniel ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33646754420     PISSN: 10455736     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (49)

1. The best account of Houphouët's rise to power and early policies is Aristide Zolberg, One-Party Government in the Ivory Coast (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969).
2. Donald Morrison, Robert Mitchell, John Paden, and Hugh Stevenson, Black Africa: A Comparative Handbook (New York: Free Press, 1972), 52. On Ghana,
3. see Jeffrey Herbst, The Politics of Reform in Ghana, 1982-1991 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 17-37.
4. For the leftist view see Marxist economist Samir Amin, Neo-Colonialism in West Africa (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1973), 66. Three decades later the debate about whether a "socialist" or "capitalist" path of development was better for Africa seems quaintly outdated by the failure of almost all sub-Saharan states to sustain economic growth or political stability. It turned out that there was little real capitalism or socialism. For a celebration of Cote d'Ivoire's success as proof that capitalism and low taxes can work miracles,
5. see Jude Wanniski, The Way the World Works (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 1998), 255 and 260. Originally published in 1978, this book's fourth edition retained this obsolete tale in 1998.
6. World Bank, World Development Indicators 1997 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 1997), 14;
7. and African Development Indicators 2002 (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2002), 33. See the more recent editions of these publications for the latest data.
8. Institut National de la Statistique, Côte d'Ivoire, Enquête Démographique et de Santé 1998-1999 (Abidjan: Institut National de la Statistique et de la Démographie, 2001), 4. The statistics given are, for example, 42 percent for the Akan but as a proportion of the "non-foreign" population. The given percentages in the census, therefore, are multiplied here by 0.74, the proportion given for the "non-foreign" population.
9. The best treatment of this crucial subject is in Catherine Boone, Political Topographies of the African State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 216-32.
10. See also Ramón Lopez. "The Tragedy of the Commons in Côte d'Ivoire Agriculture," World Bank Economic Review 12 (January 1998): 105-31, especially 124-25: and more generally,
11. J.C. Berthélemy and F. Bourguignon, Growth and Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire (Washington. D.C.: World Bank, 1993).
12. Jean-Paul Ngoupandé. a politician and intellectual from the Central African Republic, has scathingly told the story of the devaluation and Côte d'Ivoire's role in his provocative L'Afrique sans la France (Paris: Albin Michel, 2002), 73-79.
13. See Stephen Smith, Négrologie: Pourquoi l'Afrique meurt (Paris: Hachette, 2005), 53-54.
14. See also Thomas Hofnung, La Crise en Côte d'Ivoire (Paris: La Découverte, 2005). 15-26.
15. Jean-Paul Ngoupandé, L'Afrique sans la France, 141-46.
16. See Laurent Gbagbo, Côte d'Ivoire: pour une alternative démocratique (Paris: L'Harmattan. 1983);
17. and Jeanne Toungara, "Ethnicity and Political Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire," Journal of Democracy 12 (July 2001): 66-67.
18. Jeanne Toungara, "Ethnicity and Political Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire," 67-68;
19. and Thomas Hofnung, La Crise en Côte d'Ivoire. 27-32.
20. Thomas Hofnung. La Crise en Côte d'Ivoire, 32-34.
21. Donald Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1985), 83-87.
22. William Easterly, The Elusive Quest for Growth (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001), 133-36.
23. An article in the magazine l'Express details some of the fantastic graft that went on: Jérome Dupuis and Jean-Marie Pontaut, "Main basse sur l'aide européenne." 6 April 2000, available at www.lexpress.fr.
24. Thomas Hofnung, La Crise en Côte d'Ivoire. 36-38.
25. Thomas Hofnung, La Crise en Côte d'Ivoire, 43-50;
26. and Jeanne Toungara, "Ethnicity and Political Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire," 70. Michel Rocard, one of the French Socialist Party's respected elders, had exclaimed on 25 October 2000, "Notre camarade Gbagbo est président de la Cote d'Ivoire."
27. Cited in Stephen Smith, "Laurent Gbagbo l'élu du people," Le Monde, 26 January 2003, at www.lemonde.fr.
28. Stephen Smith, "Laurent Gbagbo";
29. and Thomas Hofnung, La Crise en Côte d'Ivoire, 49.
30. Jeanne Toungara, "Ethnicity and Political Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire," 64;
31. and Thomas Hofnung, La Crise en Côte d'Ivoire, 51-52.
32. In April 2003 I interviewed some families of victims in both Abidjan (where northerners and immigrants from the Sahel were targets) and Bouaké, the new rebel capital (where southerners were the main targets) and there is no question that there were numerous atrocities. In February 2004 I interviewed people affected by the violence in the western part of the country, in the areas of Man and Zouan-Hounien. The best way to get the details of the period from the election of 2000 to the start of the civil war is to look at Le Monde's, archives for that period. These can be obtained at www.lemonde.fr. The main articles were written by Stephen Smith and Jean-Pierre Tuquoi. For a summary see Stephen Smith, "La crise ivoirienne, un condensé des caractéristique de tout un continent," Le Monde, 20 February 2003.
33. See also Daniel Chirot, "What Provokes Violent Ethnie Conflict? Political Choice in One African and Two Balkan Cases," in Zoltan Barany and Robert Moser, eds., Ethnic Conflict After Communism (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2005), 140-65.
34. Thomas Hofnung, La Crise en Côte d'Ivoire, 61-84.
35. IRIN News, "Côte d'Ivoire: Tough Living for War-Displaced and Their Hosts," 28 November 2005, available at www.alertnet.org/ thenewslnewsdesk.
36. Stephen Smith, "Enquête sur une quasi-guerre de huit jours entre Paris et Abidjan," Le Monde, 15 November 2004 at www.lemonde.fr;
37. and Thomas Hofnung, La Crise en Côte d'Ivoire, 85-96.
38. In Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index 2005 (Berlin: Transparency International, 2005), 5-6, Côte d'Ivoire is tied for 152nd out of 159 rated countries. Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria are also tied for 152nd, and below them are only five countries, Haiti, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh, and Chad.
39. "Disarmament and elections? Not likely, say ordinary Ivorians," IRIN News, 21 June 2005;
40. "Rebels to disarm just ahead of October poll," IRIN News, 11 July 2005;
41. Jean-Pierre Tuquoi, "Peut-on encore sauver la Côte d'Ivoire," Le Monde, 22 September 2005, at www.lemonde.fr. See also many other IRIN and Reuters reports and Le Monde articles in the second half of 2005.
42. "Peace efforts at standstill, deadlock over new prime minister," IRIN News, 18 November 2005;
43. "Peace stalemate could rumble on and on," IRIN News, 2 December 2005.
44. "La Côte d'Ivoire se dote d'un gouvernement de transition," Le Monde, 28 December 2005, www.lemonde.fr.
45. Jean-Pierre Tuquoi, "A Abidjan, l'armée ivoirienne a repris le contrôle du principal camp militaire du pays," Le Monde, 3 January 2005, www.lemonde.fr.
46. Philippe Bolopion, "Paris demande aux Nations unies de sanctionner des dirigeants ivoiriens," Le Monde, 4 February 2006, www.lemonde.fr.
47. Philippe Bolopion, "L'ONU souhaite surveiller l'exploitation du cacao et des diamands," Le Monde, 19 October 2005;
48. Jean-Pierre Tuquoi, "La résistance de la filiére café-cacao alimente la crise politique ivoirienne," Le Monde, 11 November 2005, at www.lemonde.fr;
49. "Annan Seeks UN Reinforcements for Ivory Coast," Reuters, 4 January 2005, at www.alertnet.org.