Abstract
This chapter introduces the book and explains what a political economy approach to genocide has to offer. It presents the main arguments of the book in a nutshell and discusses leading authors in agrarian studies and the political economy of development. It also outlines the content of all chapters.
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Notes
- 1.
We come back to this in Chap. 8 of this book when we deal with data sources. The 1991 Census underestimates the number of Tutsi. Prunier (1995) regards a 12 % estimate of Tutsi in the population as a conservative estimate. Any estimate of the death toll among Tutsi crucially depends on the percentage of Tutsi in Rwanda prior to the genocide. We also observe serious provincial level differences in the number of Hutu and Tutsi between the 1991 Census and the registration system used at the level of the commune (municipality).
- 2.
This combination of economic claims and gains on the one hand and ethnic fears, myths and grievance on the other hand will reappear in the 1990s.
- 3.
Pottier (1993).
- 4.
Reyntjens, F., 1985, Pouvoir et Droit au Rwanda, Musée Royal de L’Afrique Centrale.
- 5.
Committees of Public Safety. Reyntjens sees a historic line between the activism of members of these committees in 1973 and their behaviour in 1994. We come back to this in Chap. 2).
- 6.
Prunier (1995).
- 7.
In fact a right to return on an individual basis, supported by enough financial resources to sustain one’s living, was recognised by the MRND since 1986, but few people (300 by 1989) had used it (Guichaoua 2010, p. 64). See below in the section ‘population policy and the refugee question‘in this introduction.
- 8.
Mfizi, C., 1992, Reseau zero, lettre ouverte à Monsieur le Président du MRND, Editions Uruhimbi, Kigali, Juillet-Aout.
- 9.
Bardhan (1997).
- 10.
Animation sessions took place once a week after umuganda and consisted of singing and dancing in honour of president J. Habyarimana.
- 11.
With the term ‘Habyarimana regime’ I want to clarify that it included moderate and extremist elements. With the advent of civil war and electoral competition they engaged in fierce battles. Ultimately, the extremists in the MRND, the presidential clan and the army overpowed the moderates. We come back on this is Chaps. 6 and 7.
- 12.
Olson and Mcguire (1996).
- 13.
Olson, M., Power and Prosperity, outgrowing communist and capitalist dictatorships, Basic Books, 2000, p. 48.
- 14.
Olson and Mcguire, ibidem (1996, p. 73).
- 15.
Olson, M., Dictatorship, Democracy and Economic Development, American Political Science Review, 1993, pp. 567–576.
- 16.
Bates, R., Markets and States in Tropical Africa, The Political Basis of Agricultural Policies, 1981.
- 17.
This book was written before Why Nations Fail (2012) came out, reason why I rely on earlier work by Acemoglu and Robinson. The reader will find many ideas in their new book reflected in this book.
- 18.
Platteau, J.-Ph., Institutions, Social Norms and Economic Development, Harwoord, 2001.
- 19.
Biswanger and McIntire, Explaining Agricultural and Agrarian Policies in Developing Countries, Journal of Economic Literature, December, 1997.
- 20.
World Bank, Managing Agricultural Development in Africa: Population Pressure, the Environment and Agricultural Intensification. Variations on the Boserup Hypothesis, DP 4, 1989.
- 21.
Apart from the three Rwandan publications, the international donor community also issued several reports on population growth and density in this period.
- 22.
This office was lead by Gaudence Nyirasafari, member of the Central Comittee of the MRND. She went to the same primary school as Juvénal Habyarimana (the parochial school of Rambura in Gisenyi) and was considered part of the presidential clan. She was married with Phocas Habimana who would in 1993 direct Radio RTLM (Guichaoua 2010, p. 107).
- 23.
Casimir Bizimungu, from Ruhengeri, was promoted to Minister of Health and later Minister of Foreign Affairs thanks to his promoter Dr.Séraphin Bararengana, dean of the Faculty of Medicin of the National University of Rwanda and brother of president Habyarimana. He will also be Minister in the interim government who will later implement the policy of genocide.
- 24.
République Rwandaise (1990). Le Rwanda et le problème de ses réfugiés. Contexte historique, analyse et voies de solution, Kigali, Présidence de la République, Commission Spéciale sur les problèmes de émigrés Rwandais, Mai. I refer to Guichaoua (2010, Chap. 3) for a discussion on the context that lead to the set-up of this Special Commission.
- 25.
Translated from the French text in the report by the author.
- 26.
In a joint paper (2003), we have outlined a complete model of a dictatorship in a single export crop economy that expands, applies and re-interprets Wintrobe’s dictatorship model (1998). A full model was presented in a follow-up paper (2012) published in the Journal of Theoretical Politics.
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Verwimp, P. (2013). Development, Dictatorship and Genocide. In: Peasants in Power. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6434-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6434-7_1
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