The Politics of Association: Power-Sharing and the Depoliticization of Ethnicity in Post-War Burundi

Raffoul, Alexandre Wadih

doi:10.1080/17449057.2018.1519933

Cited by 15 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…This is for instance the case with the consociational power-sharing arrangement considered as one of the hallmarks of dealing with past violence in Burundi. Although this approach is generally considered instrumental in reducing the role of ethnicity in politics (Lemarchand 2007; Curtis 2013; Vandeginste 2015; Reyntjens 2016; Raffoul 2020), in light of this analysis, it might also paradoxically entrench the salience of ‘ethnic’ identity in wider society in an essentialist way, thus failing to avoid ‘groupism’, the ‘tendency to treat … groups as substantial entities’ (Brubaker 2004: 64), ‘chief protagonists of social conflicts’ (Brubaker 2004: 8), which haunts policymaking on and the scholarly study of violence and peace in Burundi.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The waxing and waning of ethnic boundaries: violence, peace and the ubwoko in Burundi

Ingelaere

Paviotti

2023

J. Mod. Afr. Stud.

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Violence based on identity constructs reinforces the experience of ethnic boundaries as felt distance between in-groups and out-groups. But what makes such an experience of rigid ethnic boundaries fade or disappear, if anything? We examined this in Burundi, a country characterised by repeated episodes of violence between Hutu and Tutsi since independence. We analysed the waxing and waning of ethnic boundaries through the (life) stories of 202 individuals collected through an iterative research process in two rural villages that were seriously touched by (ethnic) violence. Rigid boundaries between ethnic in- and out-group appeared to fade through non-violent interactions; when categorisations other than ethnic emerged; and when awareness of interstitiality, being in-between salient groups, contested the relevance and meaning of the ethnic boundary as such. These insights invite us to bring in multiple temporalities and identities when aiming to understand legacies of violence in conflict-affected societies such as Burundi. This would allow us to avoid treating groups as substantial entities, which reinforces boundaries between in-groups and out-groups.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The waxing and waning of ethnic boundaries: violence, peace and the ubwoko in Burundi

Ingelaere

Paviotti

2023

J. Mod. Afr. Stud.

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“…This broad call for inclusive processes without defining how, why, and for whom, has prompted mediation scholars to theorize different rationales for inclusive peace processes (Hirblinger and Landau 2020). These rationales exist on a spectrum, ranging from the strategic inclusion of armed actors for reasons related to durable peace agreements (Nilsson 2012), a need for power sharing (Raffoul 2020), and incentives for actors identified as spoilers (Blaydes and de Maio 2010; Zahar 2010; Nilsson and Söderberg Kovacs 2011); to the inclusion of civil society (Wanis St‐John and Kew 2008)—particularly women (Lorentzen 2020), youth (Grizelj 2019), religious leaders (Kmec and Ganiel 2019), and business actors (Alluri 2013)—for normative imperatives of empowerment and rights‐based participation.…”

Section: The Normative Turn In Conflict Resolution: the Third Generation Of Track Two Theory?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a Normative Turn in Track Two Diplomacy? A Review of the Literature

Federer¹

2021

Negotiation Journal

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Almost six decades since the emergence of Track Two diplomacy, a form of informal and unofficial dialogues between conflicting parties facilitated by scholar‐practitioners, scholarship on the field has grown exponentially. Originally conceived of as a discreet complement to Track One official negotiations between armed actors in conflict, Track Two has become an established and professionalized form of broader conflict resolution. Specific scholarship on Track Two has occupied the liminal space between theory and practice, in which theoretical propositions are often born out of observations from practical applications in empirical cases. Analyzing how Track Two theories reflect these paradigms can give greater insights into the theoretical evolution of the field and where it is headed. This begets a need to regularly and systematically survey the relevant literature on Track Two given the large‐scale changes occurring in its practice. This article discusses the evolution of Track Two theories as embedded in conflict resolution paradigms, namely, strategic bargaining and problem solving; conflict transformation; and liberal and post‐liberal peacebuilding. In particular, I focus on how the recent "normative turn" in conflict resolution literature has impacted Track Two scholarship. Following the analytical framework of a mediation process applied to Track Two scholarship, I organize relevant literature into “generations” and compare what are identified as the main constitutive components of a Track Two initiative in order to understand how the theories have evolved in this second generation of literature. My analysis finds that conceptions of Track Two have moved from “narrow” to “broad”: influenced by a normative imperative toward more inclusive and participatory peace processes in conflict resolution, activities labeled as Track Two have expanded from small, discreet dialogues between unofficial actors to include more robust forms of civil society inclusion and participation.

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“…Parties need to attract candidates and voters across the ethnic divide and party officials are automatically involved in inter-ethnic exchange and dialogue' (Vandeginste 2017: 178). While the requirement for multi-ethnic electoral lists was a key point of contestation during Horizontal the transition and the constitution-building process, it appears to have become accepted and fostered a depoliticization of ethnicity in Burundian politics (Raffoul 2020). The government has recently sought to move away from many of the power-sharing provisions agreed at Arusha with a new constitution, but has not altered the voting rules.…”

Section: Moderate Centripetalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-Ethnic Voting: An Index of Centripetal Electoral Systems

Reilly

2020

Gov. & oppos.

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Centripetal approaches to democracy in divided societies seek to promote inter-ethnic accommodation and moderation by making politicians dependent on the electoral support of groups other than their own base. Such cross-ethnic voting stands in contrast to situations where politicians need only the support of their own co-ethnics to win elections. This distinction can be used to evaluate the utility of centripetal electoral systems in promoting voting across ethnic divides. To do so, this article begins by considering some critiques of centripetalism, showing that cross-ethnic voting is more common in both institutional design and actual practice than some critics believe. It then moves on to examine cases of cross-ethnic voting via ethnically designated party lists, cross-regional party formation rules, at-large communal or sectoral seat reservations, and uni-directional vote-pooling, using these cases to construct an index of strong, moderate and weak centripetal electoral systems.

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The Politics of Association: Power-Sharing and the Depoliticization of Ethnicity in Post-War Burundi

Cited by 15 publications

References 52 publications

The waxing and waning of ethnic boundaries: violence, peace and the ubwoko in Burundi

The waxing and waning of ethnic boundaries: violence, peace and the ubwoko in Burundi

Toward a Normative Turn in Track Two Diplomacy? A Review of the Literature

Cross-Ethnic Voting: An Index of Centripetal Electoral Systems

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