July 21, 2011
International Monetary Fund
Abstract:
This paper identifies the factors linked to cross-country differentials in growth performance in the aftermath of social conflict for 30 sub-Saharan African countries using panel data techniques. Our results show that changes in the terms of trade are the most important correlate of economic performance in post-conflict environments. This variable is typically associated with an increase in the marginal probability of positive economic performance by about 30 percent. Institutional quality emerges as the second most important factor. Foreign aid is shown to have very limited ability to explain differentials in growth performance, and other policy variables such as trade openness are not found to have a statistically significant effect. The results suggest that exogenous factors ("luck") are an important factor in post-conflict recovery. They also highlight the importance in post-conflict settings of policies to mitigate the macroeconomic impact of terms of trade volatility (including countercyclical macroeconomic policies and innovative financing instruments) and of policies to promote export diversification....
June 1, 2011
Crisis States Research Centre Working Papers // London School of Economics // Destin Development Studies Institute
Abstract:
The author examines the city as a site in which the provision of public goods and services for citizens is demanded and provided through the transfer of central state revenues. The relationship between state and citizens is not conceived simply in the relatively passive and limiting terms of welfare delivery, but rather within the broader arena of social rights, understood as a core component of substantive citizenship – an important characteristic of developmental states. The focus of the paper is derived from the recognition that social rights, notably access to land and housing, are of particular importance in cities. Conflicts over the appropriate use of land are more likely to arise in urban areas, and the high value of land combined with its potential to contribute to economic development mean that the state almost inevitably becomes involved in these conflicts. This paper's examination of the spatial aspects of social rights in urban areas gives rise to a discussion of the 'right to the city', and how the denial of this right can create increased tension and destabilisation in the cities of fragile states. The author outlines the theoretical basis for the paper with an examination of social rights and substantive citizenship, illustrated through the case of a housing movement of the urban poor in São Paulo, Brazil. The paper then develops the discussion of the link between social rights and state stability through a reading of a selection of CSRC case studies of cities in fragile states....
January 12, 2011
Institute for British-Irish Studies // University College Dublin
Abstract:
Between April and July of 1994, 800-850 thousand people were slaughtered in
Rwanda, the vast majority of them members of the minority
Tutsi ethnic grouping. The evident intent to wipe out the Tutsi as a people renders
this a clear case of genocide. The genocide occurred despite the existence of a
peace and power sharing agreement (the Arusha Accords) to which all parties to
the conflict had ostensibly subscribed.
This paper addresses the failings of the Arusha peace and power sharing process,
and makes three core arguments. The first argument is that the Arusha process
was more a part of the problem than it was part of any putative solution because it
heightened tensions within élite circles (whose monopoly of state power was
seriously challenged), and provided a channel through which aspirant élites could
pursue their dangerous goals.
However, even more fundamentally, the Arusha process, rooted as it was in power
sharing modalities between various élite and aspirant élite actors, failed to tackle
the most pressing problems of Rwandan society: chronic and worsening poverty;
entrenched and intensifying inequality; the treatment of the poor with contempt; a
pervasive sense of impunity in the context of egregious human rights abuses; and
the oppressive presence of the state in all aspects of social life.
This disastrous cocktail—creating what Uvin calls a situation of "structural
violence" laid the basis for mass participation in the genocide of 1994. The concluding section of the paper examines post-genocide Rwanda and how the
legacy of the Arusha Accords has, amongst other devices, been used to legitimise
new forms of repression at the same time as the abuse and violence inflicted upon
ordinary Rwandans (and their neighbours) has continued. Again, and this is the
third core argument of the paper, a seemingly reasonable political agreement to share power is being co-opted for a very different purpose—to legitimate the
inequitable and oppressive power of a new ruling élite....
July 29, 2010
International Review of the Red Cross
Abstract:
The participation of women in the 1994 Rwandan genocide should be considered in the context of gender relations in pre-genocide Rwandan society. Many ‘ordinary’ women were involved in the genocide but, overall, committed significantly fewer acts of overt violence than men. Owing to the indirect nature of women’s crimes, combined with male ‘chivalry’, women may be under-represented among those pursued for genocide-related crimes, despite the broad conception of complicity in Rwanda’s Gacaca Law. Women in leadership positions played a particularly important role in the genocide, and gendered imagery, including of the ‘evil woman’ or ‘monster’, is often at play in their encounters with the law. While representing a relatively low proportion
of genocide-related detainees compared with men (less than 6%), it is
impossible to understand women’s diverse experiences of the genocide without
exploring their participation in the violence.
This article takes a small step in this direction. Based primarily on research
conducted in Rwanda in 2001, including interviews with 71 detained female
genocide suspects, it considers four central questions. First, what was the extent
and nature of women’s participation in the genocide? Second, if the forms of
women’s participation differed from men’s, what are the legal consequences of this
distinction? Third, what may have motivated ‘ordinary’ women to participate in
the violence? Fourth, what roles did women in leadership positions play during the
genocide, and how much actual power did they wield? A fifth question permeates
the text: how did gender influence women’s participation in the genocide, as well as
their subsequent encounters with the law?
This article notes that women participated in the genocide in a variety of
ways but were rarely directly engaged in the killings. It contends that where women
conformed to gender expectations and participated ‘indirectly’ in the genocide (in
particular, by denouncing Tutsis to the killers), less moral blame is attributed to
them, both by the women themselves and by those responsible for bringing them to
justice....
April 6, 2010
Journal of Humanitarian Assistance // Feinstein International Center
Abstract:
Based on interviews and field work in Rwanda over the course of two years, this article argues that genocide survivors have been excluded from the human rights guarantees and protections offered to refugees and asylum seekers experiencing persecution and threat to their lives and welfare. It illustrates how genocide survivors are subject to unique psychological and social vulnerabilities, including psycho-social trauma and high levels of chronic stress which impede their capacity to rehabilitate themselves and rebuild their lives. Many are forced to live in the same neighborhoods and villages as the genocidaires that raped and tortured them as well as their families and friends, and who murdered many of their closest kin. This is an intrinsically psychologically destabilizing position which burdens and overwhelms genocide survivors, subjecting them to continuous retraumatization. Consequently, it argues that genocide survivors should be granted special privileged immigration rights to resettlement outside of Rwanda....
Rwanda 
