Lundström Hanna
C-Thesis Peace and development 2FU33E
Post conflict development in ethnic divided societies A comparative case study between Rwanda and Burundi
Author: Hanna Lundström Supervisor: Jonas Ewald Examiner: Heiko Fritz HT: 2020
1 Lundström Hanna
List of abbreviations RPF- the Rwandan Patriotic Front RPA-Rwandese patriotic army MDR- Mouvement Démocratique Républicain CNDD-FDD- Conseil National pour la Défense de la Démocratie - Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie DDR- Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration NURC- National Unity and Reconciliation Commission
2 Lundström Hanna
Abstract There has been lots of research written on Rwanda and Burundi, there are few texts written about comparing these two countries that are often described as “fake twins'' and their respective post conflict development models. Where Rwanda opted for security and development over democratic inclusion compared to Burundi´s models that focused more on power sharing and political inclusion over security and development. The overall literature on the subject is quite outdated and it touches more upon different ideas of post conflict development few texts are written on post conflict development and models in ethnic divided societies. This thesis compares Rwanda and Burundi’s post conflict development models. To understand the situation in these countries, the thesis provides an historical overview of these countries as well as the origins between the two main ethnic groups Hutu and Tutsi. As well has how the colonial period have been a big factor into shaping the current situations in the countries with the relationship between Hutu and Tutsi and Rwanda and Burundi’s present constitution. With the use of a structured focus comparative case study 8 secondary sources and semi-structured interviews were conducted on 4 key informative to gather data. Two theories were used to analyze the data material, security development nexus and historical institutionalism. Through the data materials findings could be analyzed where the different post conflict government that Rwanda and Burundi had implemented was compared and the conclusion could be drawn that creating a stable society in countries that have such an immense division between people is extremely difficult. In this thesis Rwanda and Burundi’s post conflict models were compared to understand the different effects and consequences of their respective post conflict model. The literature and interviewees believed the situation in Rwanda as better than Burundi in terms of development, however Burundi’s vision of creating a democratic and power-sharing government might turn out better in the long run, however they still have plenty of issues to deal with before that could happen. Acknowledgement I would like to start the thesis by thanking my supervisor for his support and personal network which allowed me to conduct a remote field study. I also want to thank the people who were kind enough to let me interview them, using Zoom and What’s app. Despite the pandemic I was able to gather information beyond what was written in the text, their knowledge and experience of living in Rwanda and Burundi let me broaden my analyses of the thesis. This enabled the thesis a broader perspective on post conflict development in ethnic divided societies.
3 Lundström Hanna
Table of content 1. Introduction 6 1.1 Research topic 6 2 Literature review 9 2.1 How to build stable societies post conflict 9 2.2 Peacebuilding through state building 10 2.3 Summary of the literature discussed above and how it connects to the thesis and the thesis contribution to the literature. 12 3.Background 14 3.1 Introduction to the region 14 3.2 Hutu and Tutsi dynamic from the beginning, how it changed through time 14 3.3 Hamitic Hypothesis 15 3.4 Emergence of Rwanda and Burundi 16 3.5 The colonial period, towards independence 16 3.6 The genocides and its aftermath 17 4 Theoretical frameworks 18 4.1 Use of theory 18 4.2 Security development nexus 18 4.3 Institutional theory in political science “Historical institutionalism” 19 4.3.1 Historical institutionalism 20 5.Methodological framework 22 5.1 Describing the method 22 5.2 Semi-structured Interview 23 5.3 Snowball sampling 23 5.5 Issues and strengths with the chosen method 24 5.6 Limitations, delimitations 25 5.7 Material, primary secondary sources 26 6. Findings/Analysis 28 6.1 Rwanda and Burundi’s post conflict models 28 6.2 The ethnic divisions effects for Rwanda and Burundi’s respective constitution 29 6.3 Security versus democracy 31 6.4 Pros and cons with the Rwandan and Burundian current government 32 6.5 Actors effects on institutions 35 6.6 Rwanda and Burundi´s post conflict models versus how they were implemented 36 7. Conclusion a short comparative summary of Rwanda and Burundi 39 8. Reference list 41
4 Lundström Hanna
Appendix 1 44
5 Lundström Hanna
1. Introduction
“To adapt to an old metaphor when Rwanda sneezes Burundi and Congo catches a cold” (Prendergast, Smock 1999)
1.1 Research topic
This metaphor reflects on the extremely complicated intertwining relationship between these countries, they are linked together through cross border insurgencies, ethnic linkages and economic ties. The genocides in Rwanda that took place in 1994 where almost 1 million Tutsis were massacred as well as the two genocides in Burundi that took place, first in 1972 were thousands of Hutus were massacred and then in 1993 when a huge communal massacre of Tutsis happened in Burundi hangs as a heavy cloud over the Great lakes region (Prendergast, Smock 1999). Two of these three countries interrelate significantly more with each other. Rwanda and Burundi have often been described as fake twins in the sense that they resemble each other in many ways, in relation to “Pre-Colon systems, ethnic and socio demographic systems and colonial experiences'' (Turner 2013 p 7) However, after closer study they differ from each other as well. The superficial similarities they share made the colonial powers treat them as the same countries, both during and after colonialism. This has even affected the ethnic tensions in the countries, where one event in Rwanda had effects on the ethnic tensions in Burundi, and vice versa (Turner 2013 p 7). After the civil wars, Rwanda and Burundi approached very different post conflict strategies to build up the states, where Rwanda focused more on security and development over democratic inclusion. Burundi on the contrary focused more on power sharing and political pluralism over security and development (Turner 2013).
1.2 Research problem As mentioned in the text above these countries intertwine with each other, not only for being neighbors and having the same colonial countries, but they have the same ethnic groups and they also share the burden of having experienced genocides. The purpose of what I will try to achieve with this essay is to compare Rwanda and Burundi´s post conflict development and try to understand why they choose different strategies/models to build up their state and constitutions after the conflicts. After reading the existing literature there seems to be a research gap in comparing these two countries post conflict development strategies with each other. Furthermore, the literature found has been quite outdated and some of the literature
6 Lundström Hanna around the research topic is centered around different ideas about how to deal with peacebuilding and development, as well as debates about peacebuilding through state building and institutional choices in divided societies.
1.3 Relevance of the research In this thesis Rwanda and Burundi were examined through a structured focused comparative case study. The reason why I choose to compare them specifically is because of how similar these countries are in the sense of historical background which will be further explained in the background chapter. This topic is relevant to study for people who are interested to know more about how post conflict development is illustrated in ethnic divided societies. As well as how difficult it can be to unite a country that have experienced genocides and what models is really the best option to try and create an inclusive and sustainable government. Lastly this study tries to highlight how democracy is not always the best solutions for divided states.
1.4 Research objective The objective of this research is to compare Burundi and Rwanda´s post conflict development and how societies that have such a complex ethnic divide and that are extremely cleavage could develop an inclusive and sustainable government, with the countries respective vision for their governments and the theories idea of development, lastly how this then ties in with the implementation of these ideas in real life. This was carried out with a structured focused comparison case study as my method.
1.5 Research questions The main research question that this thesis tries to answer goes as follow. Which post conflict models did Rwanda and Burundi apply to their governments? Why did they choose their respective model? How did the ethnic cleavages between Hutu and Tutsi shape the current constitution in Rwanda and Burundi? As a result of the historic and still current ethnic cleavages between Hutu and Tutsi, what are the contemporary political pros and cons with the current Rwandan and Burundian government?
1.6 Short thesis summary
7 Lundström Hanna
After the thesis introduction is an introduction to the previous literature about post conflict development was brought up, followed by a background chapter. Then a chapter to explain the two theories that was used to analyze the research questions. The theories that were chosen were, security development nexus and historical institutionalism , after that comes the methodological chapter, where the chosen method structured forced comparative case study is explained more in detail, followed by a findings/analysis chapter and the thesis ends with a conclusion chapter.
8 Lundström Hanna
2 Literature review
In chapter 2 the overall literature on different post conflict development perspectives and ideas will be brought up for the reader in order to understand how this thesis preferably or possibly could add some knowledge to the existing literature on post conflict development in failed states or states that are divided. Starting with how to build stable societies in post conflict environments with consociationalism and a second discussion on peacebuilding through state building. In this topic there exists quite a lot of material, in both articles and books that have explored different aspects of post conflict development. The Great lakes is a region in Africa that has interested scholars over the years and has remained of interest when studying theoretical debates of Africa's political systems, with misconceptions of tradition and modernity (Chrétien 2003 p 27).
2.1 How to build stable societies post conflict
A general debate around post conflict development among different schools is, how to build stable and democratic politics in divided societies emerging from conflict, for example Rwanda and Burundi. What kind of institution could offer the best institutions for post conflict countries is a highly debated area. Autor Stefan Wolff of the department of political sciences and international studies, argues that there is no universal model for state building in divided societies. There is however one theory that has been commonly used in divided societies, consociationalism. This theory is based on the premise of power sharing among elites, developed by Arend Lijphart. Consociationalism is a theory developed for managing conflict in divided societies. With two dominant dimensions of institution design, power sharing and self-governance. The idea behind the development of this theory, as studied by Lijparhart was how despite division between political elites, maintain a stable political process (Wolff 2011). Lijphart who created the theory, states that this theory is about cooperation among elites through a grand coalition cabinet. were the power is shared among opposition and majority parties (Wolff 2011) Further, this theory includes three other “conditions'' group anatomy; which means that issues of common interest are made in a joint decision by all members, in other questions the anatomy is exercised (Lemarchand 2006). The second “condition” is proportionality; which is the “Basic standard of political representation. public services appointments of allocation of
9 Lundström Hanna public funds”. This is meant to ensure a fair representativeness of ethnic minorities. The last condition of this theory is the minority veto; which is meant to be a “weapon” that minorities can use to protect their interests (Lemarchand 2006).
2.2 Peacebuilding through state building
Another discussion similar to the first one above that has grown in interest from scholars is about peacebuilding through state building after violent conflicts, using Rwanda and Burundi as an example. Where a strong and legitimate state is required to build a peaceful state. The idea behind this discission is creating a more holistic approach in post conflict situation. Doing this requeues not only a strong state, but a state that is legitimate and responsive to civil society, in other words go for a more bottom up approach when rebuilding the society post conflict. The current focus of peacebuilding as a concept has shifted from peace being the absence of violence to focusing immensely on human security over national security. Currently the UN defines peacebuilding as follow “… a range of measures targeted to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict, to strengthen national capacities at all levels for conflict management, and to lay the foundations for sustainable peace and development. (From Haider 2012 [2010])” (Turner 2013 p 9).
When building peace in a state it’s important to have a comprehensive approach, where development, security, justice and social cohesion is covered. When combining peacebuilding and state building it recognizes how important peacebuilding relies on having a stable state, without the state being able to grant its citizen security, education, justice and development, peace in itself will not happen. This debate comes as mentioned from trying to get a more holistic approach to different post conflict situations, since in more recent years there has been an increasing interest among scholars to study the relationship between state building through peacebuilding in countries that have experienced conflict (Turner 2013 p 9).
Paris and Sisk the author states, argues that peacebuilding became a policy issue after the cold war. There was then a spike in peacebuilding missions. These missions did not last long and got critique for resulting in instability because of the radical change they made in a society where institutions had been weak for a long time. They were also naïve in trying to reform countries coming out of violence by liberalize the economy and introducing multi- party electoral systems to prevent further conflicts. One cannot assume that violence would
10 Lundström Hanna end overnight as a result of the reforms mentioned above, peacebuilding is a long-during process with building up new resilient institutions as well. A second generation of peacebuilding missions emerged in the early 2000s, with state building as a new focus. Even though there can be possible outcomes linking state building and peacebuilding together the author recognizes that dilemmas and tensions that exist when connecting the two concepts.
The first dilemma comes from the idea that there is a tension between building strong institutions and maintaining a legitimate state. Statebuildning relies on creating an inclusive and responsive state in order to further prevent marginalization and future conflict. There are tensions in emerging these two concepts, where state building is more of a top down process to build strong institutions, whereas peacebuilding is a bottom-up process to build strong societal relationships. There can however be cases of countries that have strong institutions and rule of law, but only one faction of the state is able to capture the state post conflict, this can cause resentment among the other sections of the population. This can be observed in Rwanda. Peacebuilding on the other hand requires power sharing deals where all people is represented, which can lead to improved confidence in the government. These types of power-sharing deals can however result in ineffective state institutions, which has been observed in Burundi. The second dilemma is assuming both in practice and literature that state fragility automatically causes conflict and legitimate states are immune to conflict. Paris and Sisk the author states argue that, they implicitly reproduce this assumption, despite having a nuanced and critical approach. Paris and Sisk claim that “ virtually all the countries at the top of states-likely-to-fail lists are those where there has been, or which are highly vulnerable to, armed conflict” (Paris & Sisk 2009a: 14)” (Turner 2013, p 10). However, as Engberg and Pedersen et al argue, this assumption is not true; states could fail in a number of cases. There is no singular term to state fragility Meaning that failed states are, that can only be applied to a one-dimensional case with some degree of fragility and transform a collapse state to a full fledge Weberian state. Engberg and Pederson et al argue that state can fail and be fragile on a number of different occasions while at the same time function well in other aspects, because a state rarely fails on all accounts. Pederson and Engberg conclude this argument by stating that the general conclusion to this discussion on the category of failed states that this is not a separate group that certain countries fall under. Nearly all countries, particularly low-income countries will experience different signs of
11 Lundström Hanna institutional instability, this may or may not push them in the direction of so-called failed states (Turner 2013, p 10). As a concluding tensions/dilemma it can be argued that “Political settlement” is important in relation to peacebuilding. “Political settlement” can be described as “The forging of a common understanding, usually among elites, that their interests or beliefs are served by a particular way of organizing political power” (Whaites 2008, quoted in McLoughlin 2010: 50) (Turner 2013, p 11) Meaning that rather than searching for legitimacy, broadly speaking, the ability to include the broad section of the political elites that matters. This includes furthermore that issues of legitimacy and political settlement needs to be studied concretely in each individual case, this text by author Simon Turner explored the political settlement of Rwanda and Burundi post conflict. “Elite Bargaining” can be of greater importance to political stability compared to good governance and statebuildning. Rwanda and Burundi have taken very different models in this regard. Rwanda both pre and post genocide states ranks high in indexes of accountability and good governance, however the events of 1994 may speak for itself. In this case having a strong state did not prevent the organized violence that the genocide was. Rwanda today is also extremely violent not because of measures of good governance but because of it. Burundi on the contrary where they have implemented a political compromise, this has often been at the expense of principals of justice and reconciliation. This as lead to a chaotic parliamentary situation as wells as weak economic development (Turner 2013 p 11).
2.3 Summary of the literature discussed above and how it connects to the thesis and the thesis contribution to the literature.
The literature connected with the objective that I intended to have with this research, which was to study the post conflict development of Rwanda and Burundi and compare them with each other and try to understand why they choose different post conflict development models in relation to state building. With the literature review I examined a couple of articles in relation to my topic such as, for example, how ethnic divided societies could possible or preferably become less divided by applying either an ethnic representation to their governments or create a new nationality without ethnic labels. As mentioned in the introduction the thesis aims at comparing Rwanda and Burundi´s post conflict development and study how countries with such a complex ethnic divide could possibly develop in a more inclusive and sustainable direction. The aim literature review was to examine some of the
12 Lundström Hanna ideas around the ideal idea of post conflict development, since there are so many ideas about how countries should develop and with Rwanda and Burundi, they both had different political processes of development post conflict.
13 Lundström Hanna
3.Background
For the third chapter, a background chapter was added to the thesis in order for the reader to fully understand the complex relationship between and within Rwanda and Burundi, there needs to be an explanation as to how the ethnic tension between Hutu and Tutsi developed in the first place. Furthermore, an explicit explanation of how these two countries emerged to give the reader an insight into these countries and a short overview of the Great lake’s region. and most importantly how the colonial period changed the outcome of the political development in Rwanda and Burundi and how this region became a haven of violence.
3.1 Introduction to the region
The Great lakes region also referred to as Central Africa's great rift valley (see map), the region intersects with similar “centralized polities, common religious beliefs, intense human density and similar languages' ' (Chrétien 2003 p 41-42). This would suggest that the region shares homogenic cultural traits, even though the region is divided at present. This region has suffered from a lot of violent confrontations, which has often resulted in devastating effects for the people living there. The societies in the region that were once held together by different factors such as hierarchies of birth, rank and privilege, became a subject for disruptions by the colonial powers (Lemarchand 2009 pp 3- 4). It's easy to describe one crisis in the region as a singular event, however that would be inconvenient given that one event in Rwanda triggered another event in Burundi and so forth. For example, the Hutu revolution in Rwanda, 1959-1962 triggered the first genocide of Hutus in Burundi in 1972 (Lemarchand 2009 p 4).
3.2 Hutu and Tutsi dynamic from the beginning, how it changed through time
Going back in time is important to understand how this region became so violent and divided, furthermore, it's also important to grasp how the different specific human and physical environment which is where the political culture of the ancient kingdoms emerged in the Great lakes. The history of this region is extremely politicized; it becomes impossible to not describe the region as a “metaconflict”, Hutu and Tutsis existed long before colonization , they were just labelled under different names.“Bantu agriculturalist” (Hutu) and “Nilo- Hamitic pastoralist” (Tutsi) (Chrétien 2003 p 41). Furthermore, they were not a homogenous group; anyone could be “Bantu” or “Nilo-Hamitic pastoralist'', considering the society was
14 Lundström Hanna different back then where these people lived in a relative harmonic state with each other (Chrétien 2003), with a patron-client relationship and a cattle contract. (Turner 2013 p12). There have however, been theories developed over the years about how “ethnic” the division between Hutu and Tutsi really is or if the cleavage is more based on caste systems, this depends on who you ask on the matter (Chrétien 2003 pp 41-43). This could result in a difficult definition of the relationship between Hutu and Tutsi because it's based on two realities, patrilineal birth and certain place/function in society. The meaning of being a Hutu or Tutsi have changed throughout time (Chrétien 2003 p 81). This hereditary factor would later become a “racial definition” from the colonial powers (Chrétien 2003 p 74). Before Hutu and Tutsi became described as “different races” created by colonizers, clans were the oldest structure of society for the people who lived in the great lakes region that went beyond the meaning of heredity. If someone would ask who are you? the answer would mention a clan, the concept of clans as a social identity that goes beyond the ethnic cleavages of Hutu and Tutsi (Chrétien 2003 pp 88-90).
3.3 Hamitic Hypothesis
One could say that the colonial period in many ways was a big factor into shaping the current polarization relationship between Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi (Lemarchand 2009). Where the Tutsis according to the colonial powers belonged to a “higher order of humanity” (Lemarchand 2009 p 54), than Hutu, they were believed to be “Pastoral Europeans” .They were not only belonging to a “superior race”, but they, according to the western powers, were born as leaders (Lemarchand 2009 p 54). The idea of a “superior race” is a myth that came to have a devastating impact on the relationship between Hutu and Tutsi, which then generated an anti-Tutsi agenda from the Hutu elite. The Hamitic myth where Tutsi were seen as “racially superior” to Hutus is essentially a stereotype created by the missionaries and explorers who first discovered the two countries. The western or colonial powers perceptions of societies in the Great Lakes region in combination with misperceptions and no real information about the countries as well as how the post-colonial societies operated, the Europeans reinforced the “central kingdoms, the ruling royal clan and the “Tutsification” process” (Ewald et al 2004 p 103).
15 Lundström Hanna
3.4 Emergence of Rwanda and Burundi
When Rwanda and Burundi emerged as countries, beginning Rwanda was a small country born in Buganza. During this time period monarchical states were emerging in both countries, and there was a shift from the previous clan era. It was not however until the eighteenth century that monarchy states were shaped, that linked military expansion and political centralization together. In Rwanda the Banyiginya dynasty was ruling the country (Chrétien 2003). Burundi on the other hand had less sophisticated traditions compared to Rwanda a kingdom in the country had first been established during the sixteenth century. In comparison to other African states that were created after colonialism, Rwanda and Burundi have existed well over 5 centuries with some borders changing. Precolonial Rwanda and Burundi differed from each other in terms of public authority and governance. Rwanda was for example highly centralized and hierarchical. Whereas Burundi had a different society structure, where power wasn´t really centralized but shared among clan members (Turner 2013 pp 12-13).
3.5 The colonial period, towards independence
Then the colonial period tried to change the Burundian society by applying the same model as in Rwanda, they assumed that the Burundian state could work being governed centralized and coherently, which turned out to be a mistake (Turner 2013 p 13). Both in Rwanda and Burundi movements for independence started to emerge in the 1950´s. In Burundi the tensions between Hutu and Tutsi had not yet turned political, in neighboring Rwanda however, the political tensions were linked to ethnic tension (Turner 2013 p 15). In 1959-1961 the social revolution took place in Rwanda which would come to be a significant event that shaped the politics of Rwanda for decades to come (Chrétien 2003 p 306). Then in 1965 Burundi became a haven for violence, even after colonization the country still remained different from Rwanda, perhaps the country would be better off if they had not applied the same model as its fake twin (Chrétien 2003 p 310) In 1972 a Hutu rebellion in Burundi that was organized by leaders in exile, where several Batutsi were murdered. This later turned into a manhunt for Hutu elites and the first genocide of Hutus took place in 1972 in Burundi (Chrétien 2003 p 316). Where around 300 000 Hutus were massacred by the Tutsi-army, however this event was never recognized as a genocide by the Burundian government (Lemarchand 2009 pp-129-132) The only genocide recognized in Burundi was the massacre of Tutsis in 1993, after the countries first Hutu president was murdered
16 Lundström Hanna
(Lemarchand 2009 p 146). Then in 1994 the genocide in Rwanda took place, where an estimated 800 000 Tutsis where murdered by Hutu extremists (Chrétien 2003 pp 328-329).
3.6 The genocides and its aftermath
The genocide in Rwanda stands out as one of the most destructive events taken place during that decade. Defenseless civil personnel were being slaughtered, buildings and roads were destroyed and this all happened during a short time period (Wallenstein 2015 p 79). To live in Rwanda after the genocide took place where friends and neighbors had killed each other in a small community, could not be compared to any other crime that have happened on our planet. In other genocides that had taken place strangers had killed other strangers not their friends or neighbors (Prunier 2009 p 1). To unite the country again after such horrors would not be easy and democracy became a burden word in the Hutu-Tutsi context (Prunier 2009 p 8). After the genocide there was an immense mistrust in the country, reconstruction a society after civil war is difficult. When the RPF took control over the country court systems were established called Gacaca. Other mechanisms were established by the RPF, these mechanisms were rooted in traditional culture and values of Rwanda (United Nations office for south-south cooperation [UNOSSC] 2019). For example, Umuganda, a practice for self- help and corporations among families, friends and neighbors, to construct and rehabilitate schools and clinics. Imihigo/Umuhigo a pre-colonial cultural practice intended for people to set new goals to be achieved in a certain amount of time. In 2000 a decentralization program was launched shifting responsibility to local governments, this required monitoring from the government to ensure accountability. Imihigo means performance contract. This was introduced as a national policy. Lastly Umushyikirano is a unique Rwandan institution with the focus on transforming the citizens' welfare. The institution aims at participatory governance (UNOSSC). In neighboring Burundi, a power-sharing system was implemented in August 2000 the country signed the Arusha peace agreement as well as a reconciliation agreement. This would turn out to shape the country's current constitution (Vandeginste 2009 p 4).
17 Lundström Hanna
4 Theoretical frameworks
In this fourth chapter the theoretical framework that was used to analyze the thesis will be described in detail to give the reader a perspective for how the thesis was analyzed. The theories chosen for the thesis were security development nexus and historical institutionalism. These theories were used in an abductive way and through the perspective of the theories used to analyze the post conflict development in Rwanda and Burundi.
4.1 Use of theory
To carry out my thesis I did a qualitative abductive remote field and desk study using security development nexus, historical institutionalism, consociationalism and social contract theory analyzing and comparing the post conflict development Rwanda and Burundi. Theories can be used in many ways to observe regularities in reality (Bryman 2016 p 18). To operationalize the theories used an abductive viewpoint was used. An abductive perspective is about moving our understanding of a concept to something more, to get a deeper better understanding of the concept (Danemark et al 2001 p 91). These theories where used to analyze how ethnicity has affected the constitution and governments in both Rwanda and Burundi. The ontological viewpoint I will take on this essay is constructionism, which means that I examined how social phenomena are “produced through social interaction that are in a constant state of revision” (Bryman 2016 p 29).
4.2 Security development nexus
The security development nexus is a theory that has been developed by national and international policy actors. The theory developed to create a more holistic idea about peacebuilding, sustainable peacebuilding is commonly understood as the re-establishment on basic security and development. Poverty, complex emergencies, intrastate conflict and human insecurity are all intertwined problems. The dominant policy actors claim development and security as the foundation stone of peacebuilding that are interlinked with each other. Where low levels of security and development could lead to a vicious cycle of violence, whereas high levels are expected to have a positive effect. There can be no development without security and vice versa (Nilsson Security development nexus in peacebuilding). This is the basis of the theory, where security and development are linked with each other, where a more secure world can only happen if poor countries have a chance
18 Lundström Hanna to develop. Extreme poverty and diseases kill people directory and it can also grow in other directions and lead to civil war. An insecure world without security with war destroys development as well as people (Stern, Öjendal 2010). Poor people therefor need security as much as they need food and water to survive. UNs previous secretary general Kofi Annan claimed that security and development are inextricably linked with each other. This framework has also become more significant among national and global policymaking security development nexus has also become a key aspect for think tanks. In emerging literature there seems to be a consensus that security and development are linked together. The mention of a “nexus” could provide a possible framework for the need to create progressive policies to designed to address the current policy programs and contemporary challenges. Furthermore, and most importantly there is a growing amount of economic resources and political will which is being “poured” into the security development nexus. With attendants that are revamping the national and multilateral institutions and actions that are designed to address it. One can therefor claim that “the nexus” matter. Security policies includes a clear reference to poverty and development reduction in the globalized fight against terrorism. Yet what does Kofi Annan mean when claiming that there is a security development nexus, what exactly does nexus mean? (Öjendal, Stern 2010). A nexus can be described as a solution for integrated issues such as security and development, it often appears as a term when handling complex issues for example the connections between poverty, armed conflict, sexual and gender-based violence (Amer et al 2013). A nexus is a complex concept and the way it has been represented and produced both trough development and security discourses are a long history. Throughout history Duffield and Hettne has argued that the interconnections of strategies between security and development have been commonly used in policy debates and implementations. The attention to “security “was at its pinnacle of “development” strategy during the colonial era. Similarly, the Marshall plan offers an example of development concern that is central to western security policies (Öjendal, Stern 2010).
4.3 Institutional theory in political science “Historical institutionalism”
A main feature in the literature of the developing world is institutions which have always been the core approach to political science. Institutional theory emphasizes that there are
19 Lundström Hanna around three main different kinds of strands of institutions; . Sociological institutionalism, rational choices institutionalism and historical institutionalism. Sociological institutionalism is by its name influenced by sociology, which concerns the idea how collective institutions can establish social control over the population. Rational choice institutionalism stems from the perspective of rational choice, meaning that it was immensely influenced by economic development (Peters 2019). The last strand, historical institutionalism was the one used to analyze the texts and interviews.
4.3.1 Historical institutionalism
Historical institutionalism, the basic idea with this theory is that it is based on how policy choices decides when an institution is created or when a new policy is initiated will have an everlasting and immense influence over policies far into the future. The basic term for describing such an argument is path dependency. This means that when a new government program or organization decides to enter specific policy or type of action there is an inertial tendency for those initial choices of policies to persist (Peters 2019). Historical institutionalism views institutions as the informal and formal procedures, routines, norms and conventions embedded in the organizational structure of the polity” (Burnell et al 2014, pp 46-47). What makes this strand of institutionalism different from the rest is that it emphasizes countries' historical context, and which most likely helps shape the newly formed institutions of countries coming out of conflict (Burnell et al 2014). The policies that were formed in institutions in the past will influence how policies choices are made to establish future institutions. This strand may seem relatively straightforward; however, this concept is more complicated than it may appear. It can for instance be at times hard to separate it from the other institutionalisms, rational choice institutionalism has for example been studying how economic reforms and strategies have changed throughout time. Path dependency has also been analyses from economic perspectives. Historical institutionalism has a focus on the different influence institutions have over a variety of policies and performance of the government. This makes this different from rational choice institutionalism, is that when a government creates their initial policy or institution those initial ideas of state policies will last, change could only happen when or if someone tries to resist it to create change (Peters 2019). This is based on the argument of path dependency where Path dependency which is a concept connected to the theoretical framework mentioned above, was initially an inductive approach about studying policy
20 Lundström Hanna choices and the behavior of formal structures in the public sector. Institutions are built up through a process of path dependence, meaning that a critical or meaningful event that happened in a country will have long-lasting consequences and shape the institutions and states in the future (Peters 2019). One of the more interesting extension to historical institutionalism is that Path dependency does not only need to be described in such a straightforward manner as mentioned above. Similarly, to students of organizations which has argued that one organizational rule often begets another rule to compensate for the inadequacies of the first rule. Meaning that institutional rule and structures may attempt to solve problems that they have caused, which further means that the initial “path” is maintained by adding more elements that specify its meaning and create more layers within the institution (Peters 2019). Pierson has according to the author of the book identified a similar pattern of response to past decisions in the institutionalization of the European Union. Where dysfunctional choices made in the early stages of the EU has been adapted over the years. This adaptive process provides historical institutionalism a more dynamic conception of policy (Peters 2019).
Historical institutionalism emphasis on how certain events, for example the social revolution which Rwanda as mentioned in the background chapter would turn out to change the political scene in the country for decades to come. Such events are intrinsically important to this theoretical framework. A similar argument could be drawn to Burundi has well how the early politics in the country, which was based on a decentralized state where power was shared among clan members. This system is still existing even after the civil war ended in the 90´s.
21 Lundström Hanna
5.Methodological framework
In this chapter the methodological framework will be explained and why the particular method was chosen to gather data. As well as strengths and weaknesses with the method and limitations and delimitations with the thesis.
5.1 Describing the method
The method that was chosen for the thesis was structured focused comparisons case study and semi-structured interviews. The reason why these methods where chosen was mostly because of the current pandemic, of course it would perhaps have been more beneficial to go to these countries to perhaps do some observation or more interviews, however the current situation does not allow for that, therefore a desk study where structured focused comparative case study and a remote filed study was used to collect data. When using structured focused comparative case study method, 3 general questions were asked to the existing literature and interviewees concerning both countries that preferably reflected back to the research objective. The method is focused because it only deals with a specific and certain aspects in regard to the history of the case. This is what makes this method structured I then compared the answers with each other, making it a comparative case study (George and Bennett 2005 p 67) Considering this is also a focused comparison, I only focused on one aspect more precisely which was to compare the post conflict development models between Rwanda and Burundi (Drozdova, Gaubatz 2009 p 3). Later when it was time to finalize the data, I made a systematic comparison to the cases. This method is useful when doing a comparative study of outcomes from historical events. In this case how the ethnic cleavages in Rwanda and Burundi between Hutu and Tutsi affected the country's constitution and institutional choices in relation to post conflict development (George, Bennett 2005 p 67).
When using a case study as a method it is important in the study that the case is focused and have a specific research objective and theory in mind (George, Bennet 2005 p 70). Meaning that one cannot study everything in relation to the case. With this thesis it only focused on studying the post conflict development models in Rwanda and Burundi. The reason why these countries were chosen is because of how much they resemble each other. This made it easier to do a comparative case study as well and when doing that it was more manageable to have the method focused and structured, it was simpler to construct when doing this thesis alone, it could have been harder to make the thesis structured and focused otherwise.
22 Lundström Hanna
(George, Bennett 2005). Furthermore, one needs two have a case that can be comparable otherwise you have nothing to compare. In the case of Rwanda and Burundi as mentioned in the background were treated as one country during colonialism, as well as having the same ethnic groups in the country and being described as fake twins. These are some of the examples to why one can compare these two countries with each other, because they have shared similarities.
5.2 Semi-structured Interview
In addition to using structured focused comparison case study as a method I used semi- structured interviews to collect newer information to complement what is already stated in the literature and to get further information about the countries from people who have studied and lived there. This made the answers in the thesis much more generalized and since I was doing a comparative case study it was important to have comparative questions as well. Example of questions asked: What are the pros and cons with Rwanda and Burundi current government? in your opinion which of these governments could last long term? and could/will Rwanda and Burundi achieve a sustainable and inclusive government in the future? (see appendix). As mentioned in the literature review a lot of the articles and books are quite outdated and do not particularly concern the future of these countries and the direction, they are going in. This is where interviews could come in and become intrinsically important to get information about the situation in the present moment.
5.3 Snowball sampling
The interviewees were selected by my supervisor through the persons network from working in Rwanda and Burundi. These interviewees are key informants’ interviews, who have done research in Rwanda and Burundi. The interviews were conducted over zoom and what's app. A snowball sampling was used to collect information from the primary sources, where my supervisor first connected me to two-tree participants to be interviewed who my supervisor thought could have useful information for my thesis. Later these participants who I interviewed proposed other people I could interview, that could have other relevant information deemed useful for the thesis (Bryman 2016, p 415). In total 4 interviews were conducted using zoom and what´s app.
23 Lundström Hanna
5.4 Ethical considerations When conducting the interviews, the interviewees where, as mentioned before first contacted by my supervisor who had required me to write a short summary of the thesis for the interviews to read to get an idea of what my thesis was about. The first two people interviewed where contacted via email where I sent out one email after being given the interviewees email from my supervisor to a previous teacher of mine from Rwanda where I contacted the first interviewee asking if he had time as well as explaining what the interview questions and my thesis where about. The second email was sent out by my supervisor to a student of his where he also gave me access to his students email after he had explained to the student what my thesis was about and if he could give me some information of his experience in Burundi and Rwanda. Both of the first two interviewees reached back quickly saying that they would be interested to share their knowledge and experience of working and living in these two countries. The last two people were contacted via what’s app trough interviewee one who gave me their number, where I once again explained in a message what the thesis was about and if they were up for an interview, IW 1 had also hold these people beforehand about the context and if they were also willing to share their experience of Rwanda and Burundi. There was no lack of information to the participants one asked if I could send the thesis when it was finished which I did. The only interview conducted over zoom was also recorded and a consent was given to the interview who claimed it was okay for the interview to be recorded (Bryman 2016).
5.5 Issues and strengths with the chosen method
There are some problems with using case study as a method, the first was selecting a case, sometimes the research can be unbiased in the choosing of the case (George, Bennett 2005). That was not a problem for me because I had no real assumption or idea about these countries, I knew a little bit about Rwanda, but that was mostly centered around the genocide. Otherwise the selection of these two countries were unbiasedly chosen, not randomly since one needs to have something to compare in order to do the method. Additionally, since this method is based on analyzing current texts and the outcome of how much the thesis contributed to the current research depends on how much was already written on the topic. There are also some other problems when doing the interviews. For example, I interviewed people who have studied and have done research in the countries. One of the interviewees was from Rwanda as well. This means that their answer can be biased and directed to their
24 Lundström Hanna perspective on the post conflict development in Rwanda and Burundi. They might have different answers to the different challenges, pros and cons with the post conflict development/state building processes in the two countries. Furthermore, these interviews were done over zoom and what's app, which comes with different issues as well. For example the interview done over what’s app was a telephone interview, it was not possible to see any body language, which could be of importance when asking questions that , the line broke a bit during the conversation as well, which is another issue of done a remote telephone interview (Bryman 2016, p 485).
There is also strength with the chosen method, there are so far four strong advantages identified when using case study as a method. Conceptual validity; Case studies allow for a higher level of conceptual validity as well as measuring the indicators that also represent the theoretical framework in the most optimal way. In the social science indicators that are of most interest is for example; political culture, democracy, power, state strength and so forth. For example, a procedure that is “democratic” in one constellation could be “undemocratic” in another. It's therefore important for researchers to. do a conceptualized comparison. Additionally, case studies have the strengths of deriving new hypotheses as well as examining causal mechanisms in individual cases (George, Bennett 2005 p 20). This method also has the strength of applying theories to causal mechanisms in order for historical explanations of cases to be made. Lastly the advantage with this method is “the ability to accommodate complex causal relations, for example complex interactions affect and path dependency”. (George, Bennett 2005 p 22). The positive parts of doing interviews over for example zoom is that the body language was visible, and it felt more relaxed when one could see the other. the positive parts of doing a telephone over what’s app is that it's free and the conversations are encrypted.
5.6 Limitations, delimitations
With this method there are some limitations, and that could for example be, that the method only can solve some of the issues of the research problem. Case studies can easily identify conditions of theories and assessing arguments, but the method won't necessarily contribute to a generalized causal effect on the case variables (George, Bennett 2005). Additionally, delimitations that were made when doing this thesis were for example that it only focused on the state and political development, therefore there will not be any gender or
25 Lundström Hanna
DDR programs, or economic development analyzed in this thesis. This was mostly because of the time frame and for the thesis to be more cohesive and focused on only one aspect/dynamic of the post conflict development model in Rwanda and Burundi. Which is the development of state, institutions/constitution. Furthermore, there were also delimitations made in the interview process. Where I only interviewed 4 key informants, one from Rwanda and the other three had lived there, since these interviews are not the only components that were used to analyze the research questions. Again, did not have that extensive amount of time to complete more interviews that one normally does when doing a field study, however this thesis was not done as a remote field study. The interviews were meant to complement information that was not found in the text. Lastly, I limited myself to where I only analyzed around 8 articles and books. Given that I also had interviews to collect data from, there was no need to collect 15-20 articles.
5.7 Material, primary secondary sources
The sources used for this thesis were primary sources in the form of interviews from key informants who had studied and lived in Rwanda and Burundi. The secondary sources used were articles and books found through Linnaeus university, One search and some articles found on Google scholar and Nordic African institute. Most of the secondary sources were peer reviewed The articles found on Google scholar, could also be found on One search as well the same for the books, a few of the articles found on google scholar were reports written by different institutes for international and peace and development studies. A few of the articles used were found through an African newspaper; African Arguments A lot of the books used for the background chapter were given by my supervisor
Examples of reports used where written by different institutes for peace and development as well as a conflict analysis report on the Great lakes region The books found were mostly used for the background chapter to access information on the Great Lakes region and to get a critical understanding of the relationship between Hutu and Tutsi throughout time. Examples of articles that were used; journals of Eastern African studies, Journal of contemporary Africa studies. As well different books such as The dynamics of violence in central Africa, The Great Lakes of Africa. When searching for literature I was also searching in the text for the relationships or divides between Hutu and Tutsi and how that affected Rwanda and Burundi´s government and constitution as well as the effects of the colonial period. Lastly how the two
26 Lundström Hanna countries built up their state post conflict and see if there was any connection between the past and the present. To get an understanding of how they built up their state and constitution after the civil wars and what roles/impact the different historical events had in shaping the present government. During this process I came down to using around 8 secondary sources that were later analyzed and the findings from those articles were presented. Why there was that number of articles chosen is described in the de-limitation section. When searching for articles I was searching for different search words such as Rwanda and Burundi post conflict development, Burundi post conflict development, post conflict development in Rwanda. Post conflict development in divided societies and so forth. When replicating the results of this thesis, can be done by looking through the research material used in the reference list, however the interviews would be quite difficult to replicate given that the people interviewed in the thesis are anonymous. This is a difficult criterion to meant when doing qualitative research (Bryman 2016 p 383).
27 Lundström Hanna
6. Findings/Analysis
In the sixth chapter the research questions were answered based on the findings from the collected secondary sources and the primary interview sources. In this chapter the answers will be analyzed with the perspective of the chosen theories; security development nexus and historical institutionalism. These theories were used in an abductive manner, which is described more elaborately in the theoretical framework chapter.
6.1 Rwanda and Burundi’s post conflict models
After the civil war ended in both countries and the Arusha peace treaty was signed, Rwanda and Burundi choose different post conflict models, where in summary, Rwanda after the victory of the RPF, the country went for a bottom up model trying to create a new national identity after the genocide in 1994. Breaking from the old national culture that many believe was the reason behind the genocide. By ushering out the old governments and the previous elites at power, to create a new political structure with the aim of enhancing the participation and representation of the government (Prendergast 1999) They decided to create a new national identity and citizenry. With a focus on development and security over democratic inclusion. Where the new government was also according to author Turner controlling the country and any opposition to them, where accused of supporting the genocide (Turner 2013). The new Rwandan constitution is based on a system of multi-party democracy, it can be viewed as a semi-presidential system (Takeuchi 2013 p 49) Burundi on the contrary pursued a top-down strategy, to accommodate the different elites in the country (Prendergast 1999) and went on a path of consociationalism, after the country was tired of war (Turner 2013). Compared to Rwanda there was no clear winner of the war. The Arusha peace agreement was signed in 2000 the new constitution was designed in 2004 with a consociationalism approach to satisfy both Hutu and Tutsi (Vandeginste 2014). Were the country focused on power sharing and political pluralism over security and development (Turner 2013).
The reasons why they adapted to different post conflict models was of how different their respective governments were during the pre-colonial times. Where Rwanda’s kingdoms were highly centralized and hierarchic especially after 1850, compared to Burundi. The Burundian society was more complex and ambiguous, power was more decentralized and shared among clan members, political rivalry took place among the different princely clan members the so-
28 Lundström Hanna called baganwa. These princedoms where often semi-independent with a central royal court and this relied on a Hutu and Tutsi loyalty in order to deal with the pressure form other ganwa clans. Then during the colonial period, they were treated as one country, which turned out problematic for Burundi who had never for a long time been a centralized state. There was also a clear winner of the civil war in Rwanda compared to Burundi. In Burundi the people were simply tired of war, and in Rwanda the Tutsi opposition managed to take power and take back the power of the state as a one-party rule (Turner 2013). The essence of the Rwandan constitution is shaped by the 1994 genocide, the country´s determination not to repeat the horrors of the past and promote a new national unity is repeatedly expressed in the constitution. Furthermore, it also emphases the importance of unity and the danger of division. The commitment to fight the so-called ideology of the genocide and eradicating ethnic, regional and other forms of division and the country´s promotion of national unity is stipulated as two of the six fundamental principles of the state. The reasons behind Burundi’s current constitution is a result of military stalemate in the civil war. Although the Tutsi forces controlled the capital with overwhelming forces and equipment during the civil war, they could not control the rural areas where the Hutu rebels CNDD-FDD prevailed. However, the fact that no party could win the war by military means was the fundamental reason behind the local power-sharing agreement that was put in place. Furthermore, Burundians historical experience of having a power-sharing system in place could be considered as a non-negligible factor that affected the post conflict situation. When looking back at Burundi’s modern history power-sharing was often opted as a model to please political leaders and deal with political tensions (Takeuchi 2013).
6.2 The ethnic divisions effects for Rwanda and Burundi’s respective constitution
Even though Tutsis have always been at the top of the political sphere in both countries, they have developed different political and ethnic policies, especially after independence, where in Rwanda Hutus controlled the country during the independence period, they maintained power until the civil war in the 90's. This resulted in a victory for the Tutsi led rebels. In contrast to Burundi where Tutsis elites remained in power by repeated violence (Takeuchi 2013). One of the interviewees IW 2 also said that in Rwanda Tutsi struggled to control the government whereas in Burundi Tutsis struggled to keep power. Where in Rwanda there was an ethnic amnesia after the genocide, where ethnic identities were “erased” (Vandeginste 2014).
29 Lundström Hanna
This is presented in the country’s respective constitution as well, whereas the new Rwanda “enjoy the privilege of having one country, a common language, a common culture and a long-shared history which ought to lead to a common vision of our destiny.” (Vandeginste 2014). The ethnic amnesia is clear to see that other forms of division are punishable by the government. Where the NURC is promoting national unity with a new citizenry referred to as Rwandan-ness. The new constitution is shaped by the genocide with a determination to not repeat the past mistakes (Takeuchi 2013 p 49). Burundi on the other hand in their newly constructed constitution, includes protection and inclusion of ethnic. cultural and religious groups. With a reconstruction of the security and justice system to protect all Burundians, including ethnic minorities. where there is a corporation between ethnic groups. In Burundi they have defined it article 1 in its constitution that the country is a democratic and unitary republic that respects ethnicity and religious diversity. (Vandeginste 2014). This is one of the main differences between the country's constitution. Furthermore, is written in the Burundian constitution article 143, that the administration must be representative of the nation, reflecting its diversity, to address the historical imbalances. Rwanda's constitution written in article 126, states that public servants are to be recruited based on their competence, merit and integrity. Overall, there is no criteria of ethnic representation. Burundi on the contrary have been condemned for their vision of power- sharing. The logic of their chosen model consociationalism assumes that power sharing is having a positive effect in divided societies. In those environments it's important to recognize the existence of group minorities and accommodate their needs in an inclusive way (Vandeginste 2014). These ethnic division is rooted deep in the society in both countries and also goes back to the colonial time as well, as is mentioned in the background chapter. According to the interviewee’s the history of these two countries did play a huge role in shaping the current governments in these two countries and it is often if not only based on the division between Hutu and Tutsi that was elevated during the colonial times, as also mentioned previously in the background chapter. Interviewee1, agreed that the historical events between Hutu and Tutsi has shaped the current government, the mixed governments. Even though they have an inclusive government in Burundi violence could still erupt any time because of the high levels of poverty and unemployment in the country. Rwanda is of course not a perfect country however the situation is much better with less poverty and corruption, with the new constitution they have built on a new citizenship as mentioned above. According to interviewee three, once had a conversation with a friend who is Hutu, and IW 3 said that with
30 Lundström Hanna the previous government in Burundi the friend did not have access to jobs but with the current new government there is more opportunities for people to get access to jobs, to study and live well. According to interviewee 2 who is from Rwanda when discussing these two countries its always in perspective/relation to ethnicity. Then after colonization there was a shift in power. In Rwanda power went to Hutu they overthrow the Tutsi power. In Burundi power retained in the hands of Tutsi. In Burundi they kept the ethnic identities, even though they have not anthropologically established. Then when reconstruing and rebuilding the country and putting up a power-sharing system in place, and making sure each side are represented, which of course was not the case in Rwanda, there is no ethnic and ethnic labels. Even though there have been genocides previously in both countries. In Burundi they recognized the two groups that had been fighting with each other and used them to rebuild the country which one can see in the constitution. Compared to Rwanda where they have promoted unity not ethnicity to the extent where they punish people that use ethnic labels. There is also a policy and commission in Rwanda towards reconciliation. The two countries changed their constitution for their president to stay in power, these are brother countries. However, in Rwanda the situation is tricky when it comes to ethnicity and identity, the conflicts in Rwanda has often been surrounded around ethnicity. The current government is not willing to sit down and acknowledge the problems of the past. When describing the past as evil, the current government is addressing the wrong issues, the past should be addressed for the current government in Rwanda.
6.3 Security versus democracy The theory of security development nexus could be implied in the case of both Rwanda and Burundi. In the case of Rwanda, they pushed aside democratic inclusion for development and security with a clear implementation of social engineering. Which has resulted in economic growth where the country is far ahead of Burundi in terms of development. Burundi that has not as of yet focused too much on either security or development is further behind on their development agenda. One of the premises of this theory is that high levels of development and security are the bases for a sustainable peace (Nilsson Security development nexus in peacebuilding). However, in the cases of both Rwanda and Burundi it's quite the opposite. Rwanda that both has high security and development seems to be reinforcing it through pressure. Their vision for creating a new state and national identity and re- engineering is perhaps not as democratic. Burundi on the contrary with low levels of security and development should
31 Lundström Hanna according this theory have more struggles, which they do still have with high levels of corruption and a history of being fragile. Still with their focus on power sharing and including group minorities is perhaps more democratic and representative than Rwanda's government. ‘ Though according to the different perspectives of the interviewees they have different opinions, IW 1 claims that it's far better in Rwanda than in Burundi, where the country is not perfect, however they still have a government that works and is developing. Contrary to Burundi that could break out into violence at any time, where the constitution is not working at all. They have inclusiveness and still huge problems with poverty, bad infrastructure and high levels of corruption. Whereas interviewee 2 was extremely critical to the current Rwandan government and wanted them to have gone in the same direction as Burundi, because at least they have a resemblance of democracy in the government. One could then question if democracy is the best universally accepted model for all, because in the case of these two countries, Rwanda is ahead of Burundi in terms of development. Even tough IW 2 further claims that is not entirely true in every sense. Where Rwanda managed to sell an image of being a developed country.
6.4 Pros and cons with the Rwandan and Burundian current government
As a result of the ethnic divisions between Hutu and Tutsi different positive and negative aspects with Rwanda and Burundi’s government can be recognized. The pros with the Rwandese government are that they have, not through a democratic process, been able to build up their economy again, compared to Burundi where the county is still far behind. IW 1 said that Rwanda has a better system than Burundi with less corruption and poverty. There is a common identity where no one references themselves as Hutu and Tutsi, though one cannot really question the government either. In Burundi they are stuck on issues surrounding ethnic tension. According to statements from the second interviewee who said there are few positive aspects with the current Rwandan government. For example, improvement of infrastructure and education as well where more people go to school. There are still more cons with the current Rwandan government, as of right now the people feel betrayed that the government never set out to achieve their “2020 Vision”. The president in Rwanda currently gave a speech to the country and no achievements or accomplishment of “Vision 2020” was mentioned. There has been improvement as mentioned above, though as IW 2 states the infrastructure is only improved in the city and to the airport, there was ambition to increase education and it has
32 Lundström Hanna though the quality of education can still be improved. There was also a promise of universal health care, however that has not been implemented, there were many good ideas, IW 2 states and it's the lack of implementing those ideas that upset the people. From the outside, the international community believes that Rwanda is moving in the right direction because they have managed to sell their image to the outside of a developing country, though from the view of IW 2 it's moving backwards. Rwanda is currently deep down in depth where there's a mystery as to how they pay for it, because people think that they have developed a successful economic development, which is not true. These selling images have been found in articles as well in where Rwanda tried to convince diasporas over the world to return to the country. According to Simon Turner who argues that Rwanda has in a sense been “staging” diasporas to return, to create a positive image of a new Rwanda with a national unity (Turner 2013). According to IW 2 they have been hiding their economic development and depth from the world bank, the IMF and African banks. Where the rest of the money goes is currently unknown perhaps to the political elite IW 2 believes. In contrast to Burundi where IW 2 claims that the negative parts of the government are not as bad as in Rwanda, they tried to implement a democratic government. However, there are still issues as in all African countries, though not as many as in Rwanda. Where in Burundi they recognized the mistakes of the past to improve the current government. Compared to Rwanda where they didn´t and how can one learn from the past to create a better future if as stated by IW 2 “ The current government is not willing to sit down and listen to other narratives and acknowledge the failures, these consequence ,hinder development in the country, if you don't acknowledge the past''. IW 2 further claims that perhaps the situation in Rwanda would be better and different if they implemented the same model as Burundi.
Interviewee 3 pointed out some positive aspects of the Rwandan government, for example they government has taken the country from a state of war to a state without war, further, the country has developed, where they take care about its people, developed their infrastructure, developed some form of organizations and opened the country. On the other hand, IW 3 said that the best opportunities in the country goes to Tutsi. In neighboring Burundi IW 3 said that the tribe effect is not as big compared to Rwanda. The president in the country is Hutu and the country are doing “quite great” as IW 3 stated. They do still of course have issues with poverty. IW 4 stated that some positive aspects with Rwanda is that the country is developing, the negative aspect is that people are not allowed to comment on politics and leaders. For Burundi IW 4 claimed that a positive aspect with their government was that
33 Lundström Hanna
Hutus have more access to Jobs compared to Rwanda. On the other side IW 4 said that the country is a dictatorship and a friend of IW 3 who is Hutu said the country is very insecure, with high rates of poverty and it's not open to NGOs. Other negative components with Rwanda's government written in African articles, is that when doing research in the country the genocide is still sensitive when brought up in conversation (Ojien 2018) Furthermore, when taking sides in Rwanda is also highly triggered, because president Paul Kagame is either a saint or a tyrant, and the country itself is either a paradise or a prison, depending on who one asks (African arguments 2014). In Burundi other negative aspects have been pointed out by newspapers, for example the CNDD-FDD has been controlling the country (Berwouts 2014). The different effects of the post conflict models in Rwanda and Burundi which has resulted in different constitutions and effects as mentioned above in the text, has also resulted in other effects as well which is whether or not the current governments in place will hold long term of if violence is likely to break out again. This is a debated question and as claimed by experts, some predict that even though the Burundian state is more fragile than the Rwandan state, with weak institutions, high levels of corruption, political decisions are blocked by political conflicts. However, the Burundian state might be more sustainable. Due to its vision/deal of inclusiveness and commitment to social justice. Compared to Rwanda who is suppressing the existence of ethnicity, and controlling the people, security is achieved through surveillance instead of social justice, issues concerning ethnicity seem to have been banned from public discourse (Turner 2013). Though according to interviewee 1 one claimed that violence can erupt in Burundi any time there is high levels of corruption the interviewee said that it was needed to bribe the police to enter the country even though you had a passport, high rates of poverty, bad infrastructure and now with the current pandemic it has gotten worse. It did not get better with a Hutu as president either, according to interview 1, instead the Hutus embraced the leadership the Tutsi had, they never really did anything to improve the country. Furthermore, the unemployment rate is immensely high especially among youth who can't go to school because of the pandemic. It's more stable in Rwanda, it's not a perfect country the interviewee claims, however it's better than in Burundi. in Rwanda the system is working, there is less corruption and better infrastructure. The people there love the country and everything that the president has done for them. However, the first interviewee feels that when the current president in Rwanda dies, violence will most likely break out again. Due to the fact that they have no plan for who will
34 Lundström Hanna have power when they are gone, they only think about sitting as president for as long as they can. The current president also took the country with violence there is no true democracy in the country. Then the Hutus would want another Hutu as president and vice versa Interviewee 2 on the other hand claims that the government in Rwanda could break any moment, because of how disappointed the people are with the current government, they never set out to achieve their development goal. In contrast to Burundi who IW 2 claims to have a government that works. There are still problems in Burundi as in all African countries, but the second interviewee said that at least in Burundi they don´t have the same problems as in Rwanda, where there is no democracy at all. The government will not break according to the second interviewee. Interviewee 3 stated that it's unlikely that the current governments in both countries could last. Especially not when both of the presidents die, then violence is likely to erupt again. Interviewee 4 agrees as well that the governments are not stable, mostly due to fact as mentioned by other interviewees the presidents have no plans for the future.
6.5 Actors effects on institutions There are also different ideas around what constitutes an institution, according to a historical institutionalist perspective which is not as clear as the other strands. An institution is a mixture of a formal governmental structure (legislators), legal institutions (electoral laws) and social institutions (social class). How institutions are formed is also differently from rational choice institutionalism etc. This is the more important focus of historical institutionalism where choices from the past will form the institutions and governments in the future. The question of when something is labelled as a “defining event” is even more challenging to point out and which policy changes are fundamental for the government structure? Labelling a defining event to Rwanda and Burundi could also be challenging, given that the background chapter points out various events that had effects on the present government. Ultimately the definition of events in these countries is the genocides, which turned out to have different yet somewhat similar effects in both countries. where Rwanda counited with a centralized model and Burundi a decentralized model.
The concept of institutional change is something that historical institutionalism's entire analytical framework is based on. In order to understand institutional changes, a conceptualization of path dependency works is needed (Peters 2019). This can be connected
35 Lundström Hanna to Rwanda and Burundi and how the historical events that happened in these countries have shaped the outcome of their current government. Both Rwanda and Burundi had different ideas of the states during the pre-colonial times where Rwanda was more centralized and Burundi a decentralized state where power was shared among clan members. Then the colonial period turned out to change the outcome of the relationship between Hutu and Tutsi in both countries and two genocides in both countries occurred in the 90's. This would then turn out to change the outcome of the political sphere in both countries, where Rwanda repressed all forms of ethnic identities with the vision to create a new national identity. Compared to Burundi that tried to change the country despite also experience a genocide, where instead of excluding ethnic representation tried to embrace it instead. One could also argue that because of that fact that Burundi had never been a centralized state their post conflict government resulted in power-sharing because they had that system before. IW 2 additionally criticized Rwanda for not recognizing the past mistakes, because how can one create a better future when the entire political reason for conflict has been repressed by the government entirely. The theory states that different definition events will have consequences for the future, this turned out to be true in the case of Rwanda, however Burundi proves that it does not have to. Countries can move forward in the right direction if they recognize the mistakes made in the past to try and create a better future.
6.6 Rwanda and Burundi´s post conflict models versus how they were implemented In both Rwanda and Burundi´s constitution they both have implemented different institutional choices, polices and constitutions, which as mentioned above clearly links with the previous and earliest institutions that was established in the country, where Rwanda has been a more centralized state compared to Burundi, which is more based on power sharing or consociationalism, whereas Rwanda's constitution is more based on re-engineering the country with no ethnic representation in the government. They have also implemented their respective models differently in each country. In Rwanda for example they have managed to implement and rebrand the country's nationality by creating a new nationality Rwandan-ness which is then clear to see in the constitution as mentioned in the findings chapter. Where Rwanda was able to focus on the country's development, with a centralized leadership. They set an ambitious development plan called “Vision 2020” to grow in the same direction as the “Asian tigers''. The country is recognized as a potential “development state”.
36 Lundström Hanna
There is still criticism claiming that Rwanda is run by a dictatorship. Burundi on the other hand exemplifies a promised power-sharing agreement, which as mentioned recognizes ethnic differences and inclusiveness A necessary condition for reconciling minority rights, (Lemarchand 2006). Consociationalism or power-sharing has been the theory most commonly used in divided countries. To create a somewhat inclusive government, since exclusion is one of the key factors behind conflicts in Africa. Furthermore, the second interviewee were also quite critical of the Rwandan government, stating that Rwanda should have gone in the same direction with their post conflict development as Burundi did. Due to the fact that in Burundi they tried to create somewhat democratic institutions were the struggles of the past were recognized in the post conflict constitution to recognize the mistakes that were made during the years of civil war. Compared to Rwanda where the government was taken by force with no effort to build a democratic state, however in Burundi they tried. Interviewee 3 and 4 additionally criticized the Rwandan government stating that people are not allowed to say anything bad about the government, furthermore IW 1 also said that when Hutus were ruling in the country, they never did anything to change the country. Instead they embraced the same methods that Tutsis had used.
Nonetheless did they actually choose the best institutional choices for each country. As mentioned in the findings chapter above, consociationalism has been proven to perhaps get Burundi's government more stable with their vision of having a representative government and administration. This could turn out positive in the long run even though it might take time, and that their focus on political representation and trying to satisfy all the political elites by using a political pluralism as their vision for their new constitution. However, compared to Rwanda's focus on a new national unity without ethnic labels which could have negative and positive effects resulting in an uncertain future, due to the fact that perhaps Tutsis are still the one with the better jobs and for people living there is a mistrust and disappointment towards the government. However according to IW 3 Rwanda set out to develop for its people the country has after all created a new national unity where everyone is equal under the law and has the same responsibilities. There still is some resentfulness towards the Rwandan government. Further, as mentioned above, Burundi’s were described as a somewhat successful case of consociationalism, however there is still a big question as to how successful their implementation really was. Burundi’s implementation of consociationalism which has
37 Lundström Hanna deemed somewhat successful (Lemarchand 2006) could then be questioned by 1 the interviewees. Where Burundi had a lot more problems than Rwanda, it might even seem as if trying to create a democratic state is not really possible without development and security, which could be tied in to the security development nexus theory as well. Furthermore, the Burundian government according to IW 1 and 4 the government is not working. They have perhaps tried to implement a more inclusive government, but it could be questioned and there still seems to be a dictatorship in the country. Where systems are not working. Perhaps having an ethnic representative government is no better than trying to unite the country where people don't have ethnic labels on them. All the same Rwanda's model of creating a new social contract and having a more controlled state, where everyone according to IW 1 “loves'' the country and taking out people's free will in a sense, could be effective in creating development. All the same it could be debated on how long this could last, since IW 2, 3 and 4 questioned the government. The interviewees additionally had different opinions to which country could break out into violence again and IW 1 claimed that violence could erupt in Burundi at any time compared to IW 2 who said the opposite. In different newspaper the different models that these countries have opted to is also debated upon, where some people view the president in Rwanda as a saint or tyrant, the country is also either described as a paradise or prison. This depends on who one asks.
38 Lundström Hanna
7. Conclusion a short comparative summary of Rwanda and Burundi
Even tough Rwanda has come further with their development compared to its fake twin Burundi, their institutional choice of creating a new nationality could lead to conflict in the future, whereas even though Burundi has more issues with corruption and a slow economic growth. Their new constitution which is more representative of the ethnic minorities could turn out positive in the long run. Even though it will take time, the new constitution focuses on accommodating the different political elites, which could be beneficiary compared to Rwanda that is in some ways enforcing the laws of a new nationality where people are not allowed to have opinions on their president or speak of ethnic differences. As mentioned by the interviewees they had different opinions on the matter, where IW 1 claimed that Burundi´s government is not working and violence could erupt anytime there, compared to Rwanda where it´s a lot better with less corruption and poverty. However, violence is likely to break out when the president dies, since the president took power with force. IW2 on the other hand stated that violence could erupt in Rwanda at any time because people are tired and disappointed with the current leadership. Compared to Burundi where the system is working better. IW 3 and 4 claimed that violence will break in these countries again most likely when the president dies.
To conclude, trying to create a democratic and inclusive state is extremely difficult and having a history of ethnic conflicts and division could turn out to have long lasting consequences. In this thesis Rwanda and Burundi’s post conflict models were compared to understand the different effects and consequences of their respective post conflict model. The literature and interviewees believed the situation in Rwanda as better than Burundi in terms of development, however Burundi’s vision of creating a democratic and power-sharing government might turn out better in the long run, however they still have plenty of issues to deal with before that could happen. This was either questioned or agreed upon by the interviewees. Where one claimed the situation was worse in Burundi and vice versa, IW 2 states that in Burundi at least they tried to fix the problems of the past by creating a more representative government post conflict, compared to Rwanda where ethnic issues were forgotten. However, one of the main questions remains after examining these to country; is democracy the right answer to every problem in all countries post conflict countries? Secondly even tough having a representative constitution as Burundi does seems to only be mask for dictatorship. Rwanda is not democratic and it's still ahead of Burundi in terms of development, perhaps having a controlled government is not sustainable in the long run,
39 Lundström Hanna however it could turn out better in the future if or when the government recognizes the problems and issues of the past that caused violence and is willing to change their mentality and perspective on the situation that led up to the genocide. Compared to Burundi where the country is far behind in terms of any type of development. As a final remark on this thesis and a question for a future debate is whether or not Rwanda and Burundi could or will achieve a sustainable and inclusive government that will last long term in the near future. This was a questioned asked to the interviewees and these where their different opinions on the matter; An inclusive government could be achieved however they have a long way to go, according to interviewee 1. In Rwanda the president thinks they will be in power forever, with no plan to replace them. In Burundi there is poverty, abuse of human rights and corruption, which will take time to solve. There's always a high risk that violence could break out in Burundi any time, they need to work on their issues concerning the struggles over identity problems with Hutu and Tutsi. According to interviewee 2, Rwanda and Burundi could achieve an inclusive and sustainable government, however it will take time, IW 2 is still hopeful that it will happen. In Rwanda it will take an immense long time and hard work, to achieve that goal, where people need to sit down and communicate with each other rather than fight. There needs to be a changed mindset for the people in Rwanda, compared to Burundi IW 2 said that they have actually already started to achieve an inclusive and sustainable.
40 Lundström Hanna
8. Reference list
Amer, R., Swain, A., Öjendal, J. (2013) School of Global Studies, and Faculty of Social Sciences. Security-Development Nexus. London: Anthem, 2013. Anthem Politics and IR. Web.
Barbara, J. (2008) "Rethinking Neo-liberal State Building: Building Post-conflict Development States." Development in Practice 18.3: 307-18. Web. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614520802030318
Berwouts, K. (2014) “Burundi: CNDD-FDD keeps country under iron, grip but opposition must now participate in politics” African Arguments July 17th (accessed 2021-01-05)
Burnell, P. Rakner, L. Randall, V. (2014) “Politics in the Developing World” 4th ed. Oxford University Press
Bryman, A. (2016) “Social Research Methods” 5th ed. Oxford University Press
Chrétien, P.J (2003) “The Great Lakes of Africa, Two Thousand Years of History” Urzone Inc
Danemark, B., Ekström, M., Jakobsen, L. and Karlsson, J., Christer. (2002) “Explaining society”. Critical Realism: Interventions. Web.
Ewald, J. Nilsson, A. Stålgren, P. Närman, A. (2004) “A Strategic conflict analysis, for the great lakes region” Sida Ewald Nilsson et al 2004a_A Strategic conflict analysis for the Great Lakes Region_Sida 2004.pdf
George, L., Alexander. Bennett, A. (2005) “Case Studies and Theory development in the social sciences” Belfer center for science and international affairs
Hasselskog, M. (2015), Gothenburg University, School of Global Studies, and Faculty of Social Sciences. "Rwandan Developmental ‘social Engineering’: What Does It Imply and How Is It Displayed?" Progress in Development Studies 15.2: 154-69. Web.
41 Lundström Hanna
Lemarchand, R (2007). "Consociationalism and Power Sharing in Africa: Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo." African Affairs (London) 106.422: 1-20. Web https://doi-org.proxy.lnu.se/10.1093/afraf/adl041
Lemarchand, R. (2011) “The Dynamics of Violence in Central Africa”. Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania. National and Ethnic Conflict in the 21st Century. Web
Nilsson, M. “Security development nexus in Peacebuilding” Nilsson2020_ReferenceWorkEntry_Security-DevelopmentNexusInPea (1).pdf
Ojien, V., J. (2018) When facts cease to matter; The polarized world of Rwanda Research African Arguments 29th of January When facts cease to matter: The polarized world of Rwanda research | African Arguments (Accessed 2020-12-20)
Peters, B. Guy. (2019) Institutional Theory in Political Science, Fourth Edition. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: Edward Elgar Limited. Web.
Prendergast, J. Smock, D. (1999) “Post genocidal reconciliation: building peace in Rwanda and Burundi” Post-Genocidal Reconciliation: Building Peace in Rwanda and Burundi | United States Institute of Peace (usip.org)
Stern, M. Öjendal, J. (2010) Mapping the Security development nexus: conflict, complexity, Cacophony, Convergence? Vol. 41(1): 5–30, DOI: 10.1177/0967010609357041
Steve, T. (2014) Taking sides in Rwanda African Arguments 6 of May Taking Sides in Rwanda – By Steve Terrill | African Arguments (Accessed 2020-12-20)
Takeuchi, S. (2013) "‘Twin Countries’ with Contrasting Institutions: Post-Conflict State- Building in Rwanda and Burundi." Preventing Violent Conflict in Africa. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. 40-65. Conflict, Inequality and Ethnicity. Web
42 Lundström Hanna
Turner,S. (2013) “Mirror Images, different paths to building peace and building states in Rwanda and Burundi” Mirror Images. Different paths to building peace and building states in Rwanda and Burundi (econstor.eu) Turner, S. (2013) "Staging the Rwandan Diaspora: The Politics of Performance." African
Studies (Johannesburg) 72.2 265-84. Web. https://doi- org.proxy.lnu.se/10.1080/00020184.2013.812888
United Nations office for south-south cooperation (UNOSSC) (2019) “inspiration: Rwanda´s transformation through home-grown solutions” Inspiration: Rwanda’s transformation through home-grown solutions - UNOSSC (unsouthsouth.org)
Vandeginste, Stef. (2009) "Power-Sharing, Conflict and Transition in Burundi: Twenty Years of Trial and Error." Africa Spectrum 44.3 63-86. Web.
Vandeginste, Stef. (2014) "Governing Ethnicity after Genocide: Ethnic Amnesia in Rwanda versus Ethnic Power-sharing in Burundi." Journal of Eastern African Studies 8.2 : 263-77. Web. https://doi-org.proxy.lnu.se/10.1080/17531055.2014.891784
Prunier, G. (2009) “Africa’s World War; Congo, The Rwandan Genocide and the making of a continental catastrophe” Oxford University Press
Wallenstein. Peter (2015) “Understanding Conflict Resolution”. 4th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, Print.
Wolff, S. (2011) "Post-Conflict State Building: The Debate on Institutional Choice." Third World Quarterly 32.10: 1777-802. Web. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2011.610574
43 Lundström Hanna
Appendix 1
Interview guide
In your opinion what are the pros with Rwanda's post conflict development and current government? What is the negative side of Rwanda's post conflict government? What are the pros with Burundi’s top down post conflict development and current government? What are the negative sides of Burundi’s post conflict state building? How much do you believe the historical events that happened in Rwanda and Burundi have shaped the present state formation? Which of these governments do you believe, could last long term? Do you think that Rwanda and Burundi could/will achieve a sustainable and inclusive government that will last long term in the near future?
44