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Abstract
In this article, we develop and expand the rebel-to-ruler literature to go beyond ‘rebel transformations’, in order to examine the transformation and militarisation of the entire post-genocide society in Rwanda. Through a historical and socio-political analysis of the military’s influence in post-genocide Rwanda, we argue that the adoption of military norms and ethos, drawn from an idealised and reconstructed pre-colonial history rather than simply an insurgent past, motivates the military’s centrality and penetration of all society’s sectors, economically, politically and socially, with the ultimate aim of retaining power in the hands of the rebels turned rulers. As such, the case demonstrates the need for an expansion of the rebel-to-ruler literature (1) beyond its concern with parties and regime type to a broader palette of governance effects and (2) beyond its singular focus on insurgent past and towards a longue-durée understanding of complementary causes.
Notes
1. Höglund, “Violence in War-to-Democracy Transitions”; Lyons, “From Victorious Rebels.”
2. Fisher, Eastern Africa’s Second Liberation; Lyons, “The Importance of Winning”; Lyons “From Victorious Rebels.”
3. See Söderberg Kovacs, “When Rebels Change their Stripes”; Wittig, “Politics in the Shadow of the Gun”; Lyons, “Victorious Rebels and Postwar Politics.”
4. Exceptions include but are not limited to Lyons, “Victorious Rebels and Postwar Politics”; Lyons, “The Importance of Winning”; Muller, “From Rebel Governance to State Consolidation”; Hensell and Gerdes, “Exit from War.”
5. Rusagara, Resilience, back cover.
6. Jones “Between Pyongyang and Singapore,” 240.
7. Sundberg, Training, 66.
8. Verhoeven, “Nurturing Democracy,” 267.
9. See Söderberg Kovacs, “When Rebels Change their Stripes.”
10. See Sindre and Söderström, “Understanding Armed Groups.”
11. Fisher, Eastern Africa’s Second Liberation.
12. Ibid.
13. Höglund, “Violence in War-to-Democracy Transitions.”
14. Lyons, “Victorious Rebels and Postwar Politics.”
15. Fisher, Eastern Africa’s Second Liberation.
16. Wittig, “Politics in the Shadow of the Gun,” 141.
17. Fisher, Eastern Africa’s Second Liberation.
18. Wittig, “Politics in the Shadow of the Gun,” 142.
19. Söderberg Kovacs, “When Rebels Change their Stripes.”
20. Rusagara, Resilience, xix.
21. This presentation can be found in many official statements and documents, see Republic of Rwanda, Office of the President, The Unity of Rwandans; Republic of Rwanda, Office of the President of the Republic, Report on the Reflection Meetings; Republic of Rwanda, National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, The Rwandan Conflict; Courses taught in ingando reproduced in Penal Reform International, From Camp to Hill, 83–112. For a summary of the government’s reading of history, see Buckley-Zistel, “Nation, Narration, Unification?” 33–38.
22. Rusagara, Resilience, xiv.
23. Ibid., 1.
24. Ibid., 208.
25. Vansina, Antecedents, 196.
26. Chrétien, The Great Lakes, 160–161.
27. Vansina, Antecedents, 61–62.
28. Ibid., 78.
29. Kagame, Un abrégé de l’ethno-histoire, passim.
30. Vansina, Antecedents, 75.
31. Kagame, Un abrégé de l’histoire, 13–128.
32. Vansina, Antecedents, 182–184.
33. Prunier, Africa’s World War, 13.
34. Ibid., 22.
35. Military Balance, 464.
36. Ibid., 481–492.
37. UN, “Financing Peacekeeping.”
38. Beswick, “Peacekeeping, Regime Security,” 743; Wilén, “A Hybrid Peace,” 1331.
39. Kühnel-Larsen, Peace by Peace, chapter 7.
40. UN, “Financing Peacekeeping”; Wilén and Birantamije, “L’engagement du Burundi et du Rwanda,” 36.
41. Kühnel-Larsen, Peace by Peace, 232.
42. James Kabarebe cited in Kühnel-Larsen, Peace by Peace, 231.
43. Beswick and Jowell, “Contributor Profile: Rwanda.”
44. Wilén and Birantamije, “L’engagement du Burundi et Rwanda”; Beswick and Jowell, “Contributor Profile: Rwanda.”
45. Stearns et al. “The National Army.”
46. Jowell, “Cohesion through Socialisation,” 285.
47. Chemouni, “Paying Your Soldiers.”
48. Behuria, “Centralising Rents and Dispersing Power.”
49. Chemouni, “Paying Your Soldiers.”
50. Behuria, “Centralising Rents and Dispersing Power,” 9.
51. Jowell, “Cohesion through Socialisation,” 285.
52. Behuria, “Centralising Rents and Dispersing Power,” 8.
53. Presidential Order, n°05/2012/OL, Chapter III. Art.44.
54. Booth and Golooba-Mutebi, “Developmental Patrimonialism?” 400.
55. Behuria, “Centralising Rents and Dispersing Power,” 7.
56. Ibid., 8.
57. Booth and Golooba-Mutebi, “Developmental Patrimonialism?” 401.
58. Ibid., 392.
59. Behuria, “Centralising Rents and Dispersing Power,” 3.
60. Kühnel-Larsen, Peace by Peace, 161.
61. Wilén, “A Hybrid Peace,” 1330.
62. Kühnel-Larsen, Peace by Peace, 161.
63. Holmes, “Gendering the Rwanda Defence Force,” 326.
64. Kühnel-Larsen, Peace by Peace, 167.
65. Ibid.
66. Mgbako, “Ingando Solidarity Camps”; Thomson, “Reeducation for Reconciliation.”
67. Purdeková, Making Ubumwe; Sundberg, Training for Model Citizenship.
68. Interview in Kigali, 14 January 2009.
69. See Sundberg, Training for Model Citizenship.
70. Ibid., 95.
71. Purdeková, Making Ubumwe.
72. Sidiropoulos, “Democratisation.”
73. Guichaoua, Rwanda. De la guerre au génocide, 135.
74. Dorsey, “Violence and Power-Building.”
75. Jones, “Between Pyongyang and Singapore,” 235. By 2000, Kagame was the only ‘survivor’ of the cabinet put in place in 1994.
76. Verhoeven, “Nurturing Democracy,” 271.
77. Dorsey, “Violence and Power-Building,” 314.
78. Verhoeven, “Nurturing Democracy,” 273.
79. Jones, “Between Pyongyang and Singapore,” 236.
80. Purdeková, “Civic Education and Social Transformation,” 194.
81. Kühnel-Larsen, Peace by Peace, 152.
82. Purdeková, Making Ubumwe, 225.