The tragedy of the cocoa pod

Rent-seeking, land and ethnic conflict in Ivory Coast

Bibliographic Data

ID4253259
AuthorsDwayne Woods (0000-0002-7033-794X, Purdue University West Lafayette, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume41
Issue4
Pages641-655
Publication date2003-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Modern African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-278X • E-ISSN: 1469-7777
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022278x03004427
OpenAlexW2142367121
LanguageEN
Citations received42
References cited7

Many people have been surprised by the eruption of ethnic conflict and civil war in Ivory Coast. The country had gained a reputation as a relatively stable and economically prosperous agricultural republic in a region known for ethnic conflict, economic decline and civil war. The underlying factors that have led to the ethnic violence, the flight of immigrants from neighbouring countries, and the division of the country into a predominantly Muslim north and largely Christian south have been known for some time. The country's property rights regime that encouraged easy access to a forest rent - as long as cheap migrant labour and virgin forested land were available - was a recipe for future conflict. As available land declined and labour costs increased, a cycle of sharpening conflicts over these assets contributed to the current situation of ethno-regional division and civil war

Agriculture · Civil Conflict · Customary land · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Ethnic conflict · Ethnic group · Geography · Land tenure · Political science · Reputation · Social conflict · Spanish Civil War · African history and culture studies · Agriculture and Rural Development Research · Land Rights and Reforms · Law

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