Cote d’Ivoire: Identity, Politics, and Armed Conflict
Between 2002 and 2011, conflicts in Cote d’Ivoire were typically fought over ethnic, regional, and religious identity, land, and political power. These domains of conflict resulted from economic pressures brought on by the combined impact of economic mismanagement, mounting national debt, and global economic conditions, specifically the slump in the global price for cash crops – historically the economic mainstay of Cote d’Ivoire. The conflicts were exacerbated by the ambitions of politicians motivated to use the people’s dissatisfaction with the national economic climate and latent ethnic suspicions as a catalyst into government. This special report examines this context as a way to investigate the potential for reoccurrence of violence during the Ouattara presidency and particularly during the 2015 presidential election. Read the full report.
