This study examines the language used in RTLM broadcasts during the Rwandan Genocide, conducting sentiment analysis with the Python tool VADER to explore the role of propaganda in disseminating...Show moreThis study examines the language used in RTLM broadcasts during the Rwandan Genocide, conducting sentiment analysis with the Python tool VADER to explore the role of propaganda in disseminating hate speech. The research investigates the changing rhetoric and discourse targeted towards the Tutsi ethnic minority, seeking to understand the role of language in intensifying ethnic polarization. By decoding the destabilizing effects of the broadcast language, the research aims to answer the research question: "How did the use of language towards the Tutsi minority group in the RTLM broadcasts change throughout the Rwandan genocide?" The findings contribute to understanding the powerful influence of propaganda on intergroup relations and the perpetuation of genocidal sentiments.Show less
This thesis seeks to contribute to a causal explanation of the divergence in levels of state effectiveness between Rwanda and Ethiopia. Both authoritarian states have been lauded as economic...Show moreThis thesis seeks to contribute to a causal explanation of the divergence in levels of state effectiveness between Rwanda and Ethiopia. Both authoritarian states have been lauded as economic success stories and beacons of hope in Africa. They have both gone through rapid economic growth and progress across many other indicators of development which they, supposedly, thank to their political culture and system of governance, recognized as ‘developmental patrimonialism’. This has enabled them to achieve strong economic growth in spite of the potentially damaging characteristics of neopatrimonial governance characteristics. On the other hand, despite their similarities, the Rwandan state is significantly more effective than that of Ethiopia according to the “government effectiveness” levels measured by the World Bank in 2017, as well as a number of other similar surveys. This thesis provides an explanatory account of the sources of Rwanda’s and Ethiopia’s divergence in state effectiveness, by sociologically analysing each state in its respective domestic and international environment. This takes the form of a qualitative comparative case study in search of causal mechanisms that link the social and political relationships in which each state has engaged to that state’s effectiveness. The case study consists of four levels of analysis, each of which exploring a dimension of state interactions in the period 2000-2017, including input relationships, output relationships, shared beliefs and the relations with the international community. The analysis locates determinants of state effectiveness in features of the states’ relations with their environment both inside and outside the state. The study suggests the Rwandan state tends to engage in relationships in a more responsive way than is observed in Ethiopia. This will be shown to be the explanatory factor underpinning the divergence in state effectiveness and an explanation of these differences will thereafter be advanced. The source of this divergence in responsiveness seems to rest on properties of the political settlements of both countries: the properties of the political settlement of Rwanda are compatible with a more responsive form of governance, whereas the properties of the political settlement of Ethiopia are not. These findings contribute to a theory of state effectiveness where the possession of effectiveness and its outcomes may be delineated.Show less
