End of a success story

Until the early 1990s, Côte d’Ivoire was considered a model of African development success. Since the death of Félix Houphouet-Boigny, founder and first president of the republic, however, the country has been crushed between different political groups, spiralling into anarchy, violence and terror. State and society are badly fractured today.

Lutz Höttler gives a comprehensive account of the route from model case to state fragility, drawing on his own experience as a foreign expert resident in the country as well as information from local victims. The author is a political scientist who has been dealing with development cooperation for the past twenty years. His book is the product of a several-years assignment in Côte d’Ivoire. The first part outlines his personal experience. The second, which concentrates on the period since autumn 2002, is based on reports from his Ivorian friends who lived through horrors of war and destruction. The subjective, anecdotal form of the report is largely retained throughout, resulting in a stylistically well-rounded book.

Höttler’s example of Côte d'Ivoire – sadly not an isolated case in Africa – conveys to the general reader an idea of the collapse of state and society. Höttler also analyses the attitudes of the developed countries and international organisations. In particular, the book reveals the helplessness of the United Nations and the African Union in the face of Côte d'Ivoire’s antagonists, who did not want peace. Even an arms embargo proved impossible to enforce effectively. This highly readable and gripping account not only helps readers understand the processes of state failure in Africa, it also clearly depicts the misery inflicted on the people concerned.

Franz Thedieck