The democratization of West Africa started in 1990 and was led by Houphouet Boigny. The process revealed social cleavages in the case of groups that could not find a sufficiently powerful voice to express their opinions. Since then, there has been a process of nation building that is backed by creating a national identity that is based on discriminating characters.
This movement was based on a redefinition of nationality carried out by the intellectual and political elites and not by the masses. They held control of the Ivory Coast; people residing in this community desired to live together on the same territory and had based their relationships on their goodwill. Consequently, they played with the citizenship of the people of the Ivory Coast, with their nationality combined with nationalism.
"1999 – 2000, or the terrible year of Côte d'Ivoire." After 39 years of political stability despite the relatively peaceful transition post Houphouet Boigny, the country descended into chaos. A military coup on December 24, 1999, presidential elections contested by the civil society in October 2000. From that time, violence between the two opposition parties, the Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) and the Rally of Republicans degenerated into civil war. The civil war ended on September 19, 2002, two years after the disputed election of Laurent Gbagbo. General Robert Guei, the lead actor in the coup of 1999, was assassinated in September 2001 under mysterious circumstances.
Three rebellions led by the MPCI (Patriotic Movement of Cote d'Ivoire), the Ivorian Popular Movement of the Great West (MPIGO) and the Movement for Justice and Peace (MJP) exploded across the country. Attempts at appeasement, the Marcoussis agreements, and the intervention of peacekeepers from the UN did not have any effect. Mass graves (Yopougon), and acts of barbarism multiplied, and the Pretoria Agreements, the latest of which was in April 2005 between Laurent Gbagbo and the opposition parties formed a mirage of new found peace.
Each state produces both nationalism and exaltation of the nation without limit. The word nationalism appears for the first time under the pen of Barruel in 1798. In his words, "Nationalism took the place of the general love. So he was allowed to despise foreigners, to mislead, offend. This virtue was called patriotism. And therefore, why not give this under narrower limits? Thus we saw the birth of local patriotism, the spirit of family and finally egoism."
Particularly illuminating, was the pejorative vision of nationalism. It is treated here as an angle as objectively as possible since it is also a process of integration of the state. The republican nationalism was in fact one of the pillars of Gaullism. We see that the problem of Ivorian nationalism is not only a challenge but also a determinant, a node of the current crisis. The fundamental key to the crisis lies in the questioning of Ivorian identity: the "structured and differentiated system that is both rooted in a past time (roots, continually), in coordination of current behavior and a legitimate perspective (project, ideals and values)” that we feel Ivorian.
[...] Identity and nationalism in West Africa since 1990 - The case of Côte d'Ivoire Table of Contents I Nationalism Houphouet Boigny facing a structural deadlock a. Doctrine Houphouetism or economic integration International liberalism as an integrating factor citizen The introduction of a defensive nationalism: "The Ivoirization" Taking into account local identities by "geopolitics ethnic" B.Degeneration link citizen / State A crisis of the economic model of integration institutional failure to account for local differences c. The revival of Ivorian nationalism The ethnicization of resentment The intervention of the religious divide The deconstruction of the Ivorian nation II. [...]
[...] Considering the territory as a fundamental element of Ivorian nationality, is actually closer to a conception of Ivorian citizenship as such. However, through this, we are also witnessing an erosion of inter- regional link, and a concomitant confrontation regarding the legitimacy of the central government and ethnic regions. Indigenousness consequence of liberalism In this process of the claims of local identities, the State must define and put into practice a new balance in the management of the social body without being carried away by the communal division. [...]
[...] However, democracy implies impersonal relationships between the state and its citizens (Michalon Thierry, 2003). B. Degeneration in the citizen / State link A crisis of the economic model of integration The liberal and open to the exterior model led by Houphouet Boigny worked for about 25 years, until the price of cocoa, coffee, and cotton remained at a high level. Growth based almost exclusively on the production and export of these products could be adversely affected with a decline in world prices, especially as the population growth brought the entire economic system to a line break. [...]
[...] In the general population, the 1998 census indicates a rate of of immigrants. The attraction is not just the Ivorian economy during this period; the socio-political crises shaking the Ghana and Nigeria respectively in 1970 and 1980 were another reason for migration of these needy people and their participation in the brewing demographic. The principle of fraternity linked to liberalism, however accompanied a principle of national preference. Houphouët would use this election as manna during his "reign", and the election condition would simply work the land. [...]
[...] But the methods implemented to carry out the operation had been strongly criticized by both the opposition and the rebels. It is not so much that the law had been criticized, because it meets the criteria of protectionist force in Western Europe, but the fact that it is ideologically marked with the seal of Ivorian nationalism and Underlying, causing many abuses. We are witnessing a true reformulation of social ties marked by all these national laws, where Ivorian conditions could not be more strict with the Nationality Code. [...]
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