Winner of the Grawmeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order, 2018 Winner of the Joseph Lepgold Prize Winner of the Best Books in Conflict Studies (APSA) Winner of the Best Book in Human Rights (ISA) In Making and Unmaking Nations, Scott Straus seeks to explain why and how genocide takes place—and, perhaps more important, how it has been avoided in places where it may have seemed likely or even inevitable. To solve that puzzle, he examines postcolonial Africa, analyzing countries in which genocide occurred and where it could have but did not. Why have there not been other Rwandas? Straus finds that deep-rooted ideologies—how leaders make their nations—shape strategies of violence and are central to what leads to or away from genocide. Other critical factors include the dynamics of war, the role of restraint, and the interaction between national and local actors in the staging of campaigns of large-scale violence. Grounded in Straus's extensive fieldwork in contemporary Africa, the study of major twentieth-century cases of genocide, and the literature on genocide and political violence, Making and Unmaking Nations centers on cogent analyses of three nongenocide cases (Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, and Senegal) and two in which genocide took place (Rwanda and Sudan). Straus's empirical analysis is based in part on an original database of presidential speeches from 1960 to 2005. The book also includes a broad-gauge analysis of all major cases of large-scale violence in Africa since decolonization. Straus's insights into the causes of genocide will inform the study of political violence as well as giving policymakers and nongovernmental organizations valuable tools for the future.

Reinterpreting the emergence of the Soviet state, Holquist situates the Bolshevik Revolution within the continuum of mobilization and violence that began with World War I and extended through Russia's civil war, thereby providing a genealogy for Bolshevik political practices that places them clearly among Russian and European wartime measures.

Côte d’Ivoire remains one of the most intriguing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It appeared well on its way to becoming a model of development under its single political party and charismatic founding father, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, when it fell on hard economic times in the 1980s. Poor management of the socio-economic challenges by Houphouët-Boigny’s successors produced disastrous political consequences, including unprecedented political violence, the first-ever successful military coup, and two civil wars, culminating in former President Laurent Gbagbo being sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to stand trial for war crimes. This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Cote d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast) contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Cote d'Ivoire.

"... A historical ethnography of the socialist period in Guinea"--Page 5.

The three articles in this "Discussion Paper" explore different perspectives to the complex causes of the civil war that broke out in C te d Ivoire in September 2002. They are written against the background of the signing of yet another peace agreement between the Ivorian government and the former rebel New Forces (NF) in March 2007. This volume also provides a context where the prospects for post-conflict peace, national reconciliation and democracy in C te d Ivoire could be critically analyzed.

With the coup d???etat of 24 December 1999 and the politico-military conflict that started on 19 September 2002, C??te d???Ivoire broke with its tradition of political stability, which had served as a model in the West African sub-region. It is now facing an unprecedented crisis that is not only jeopardizing the continuity of the state, but has also introduced a culture of violence into the society. This study has three objectives. The primary one is to understand the nature of this socio-political crisis, and what is at stake in it. Secondly, the study examines the issue of ivoirit??. Finally, it explores the escalation of violence in this socio-political crisis and the catalogue of justifications for that violence.It is argued that the recurrence of military coups d???etat in C??te d???Ivoire signifies the delegitimization of the modes of regulation built on the tontine system, and calls for a renewal of the political grammar and socio-political regulatory modalities around integrating principles that have yet to be devised.

This engaging volume scrutinises the causal relationship between warfare and state formation, using Charles Tilly's work as a foundation.