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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:An Economic Interpretation of Conflict in Burundi
Authors:Ngaruko, FloribertISNI
Nkurunziza, Janvier D.
Year:2000
Periodical:Journal of African Economies
Volume:9
Issue:3
Period:October
Pages:370-409
Language:English
Geographic term:Burundi
Subjects:civil wars
Politics and Government
Economics and Trade
External link:https://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/9/3/370.full.pdf
Abstract:Since Burundi's independence in 1962, the country has experienced five civil conflicts, the latest being the ongoing civil war which began in 1993. The authors review the history of Burundian conflicts in the context of a predation model built around three main variables: predation by the bureaucracy to share the rents of the State machinery, rebellion by the victims of predation, and repression by the army as part of the bureaucracy to deter further rebellion. They note an increase in predation associated with a decline in GDP per capita over the period since 1965. They argue that the root cause of Burundian conflicts is not ethnic, but rather uneven development, which has favoured Bujumbura, the capital city, and Bururi province in the southern tip of the country. However, the chances of success are higher for Tutsi than for Hutu, and among the Tutsi, the chances are highest for those Tutsi originating from the south. Ethnic and regional factors complement each other to shape rent collection and sharing, and concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a small elite, thereby preparing the ground for conflict. Particularly in the 1980s and 1990s a number of shocks, such as donor condemnation of the killing of innocent civilians in 1988 and France's 1990 declaration henceforth to link aid to democracy, compromised the equilibrium between predation, rebellion, and repression, leading to the bloody events of 1991 and 1993. App., bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
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