Events of extreme ethnic violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda shook up the international community in the 1990s. In the years after genocide and ethnic cleansing both countries employed in...Show moreEvents of extreme ethnic violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda shook up the international community in the 1990s. In the years after genocide and ethnic cleansing both countries employed in different strategies for rehabilitating ethnic groups and mitigating ethnic tensions. This thesis focuses on the electoral institutions, and thereby aims to contribute to the literature on power sharing institutions. In Bosnia international actors have attempted to reconcile ethnic groups by dividing power in the country’s most important political institutions along ethnic lines. Though Bosnia has remained peaceful in the last two decades, cooperation between the Bosniak, Croat and Serbian ethnic minorities has proven difficult. The Office of the High Representative has used his ‘Bonn powers’ frequently to pass legislation or remove politicians that frustrated the peace process. In Rwanda the story is entirely different. The Arusha Peace Agreement of 1993 entailed democratization and power sharing between the Hutu government and Tutsi rebels, the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF). However, in a society in civil war, where ethnic discrimination was prevalent, power sharing catalysed a genocide. Now the RPF are in firm control of Rwanda’s political institutions. The RPF aims to ban the notion of ethnicity from the political sphere.Show less
Research master thesis | Political Science and Public Administration (research) (MSc)
open access
2017-08-01T00:00:00Z
Since the proliferation of democratizing countries in Africa, ethnic conflict has also increased. One of the explanations for this phenomenon is that ethnicity become politicized when democratic...Show moreSince the proliferation of democratizing countries in Africa, ethnic conflict has also increased. One of the explanations for this phenomenon is that ethnicity become politicized when democratic institutions are installed, and ethnic cleavages are widened, creating more conflict. In order to temper conflict and stabilize the democratization process it is sometimes needed to use undemocratic tools, such as party bans. While sometimes banning an ethnic party leads to less conflict, sometimes it also leads to more. This thesis will explain how a party ban will decrease conflict when it is based on old, existing law or regulation and accompanied by other institutional arrangements giving incentives for inter-ethnic cooperation and promote cross-cutting cleavages. Two cases of party bans in Mauritania and two cases in Nigeria are used to explain the mechanism of the causal effect between party ban and conflict level.Show less
Op basis van economische modellen zijn duidelijke verschillen zichtbaar in de economische strategie van de vijf kleine Afrikaanse eilandstaten. De Comoren, Kaapverdië en STP hebben een MIRAB status...Show moreOp basis van economische modellen zijn duidelijke verschillen zichtbaar in de economische strategie van de vijf kleine Afrikaanse eilandstaten. De Comoren, Kaapverdië en STP hebben een MIRAB status (waarbij Kaapverdië is begonnen aan een transitie en nu ook wel gezien wordt als een TOURAB land) Mauritius en de Seychellen hebben beide een combinatie van zowel het PROFIT als het SITE model toegepast. Om de verschillen beter inzichtelijk te maken is in dit onderzoek specifiek gekeken naar drie verwachtingen: 1) de kleine Afrikaanse eilandstaten die (veel) investeren in human capital zullen meer economische groei genereren dan de kleine eilandstaten die primair investeren in landbouw, 2) de kleine Afrikaanse eilandstaten met een ontwikkelde toerismesector zullen economisch succesvoller zijn dan de kleine eilandstaten die dit niet hebben, en 3) de kleine Afrikaanse eilandstaten die sinds de onafhankelijkheid een overwegend stabiel politiek systeem kennen zullen economisch beter presteren dan de kleine Afrikaanse eilandstaten die sinds de onafhankelijkheid veel politieke instabiliteit hebben gekend.Show less
