Ethnic Political Settlements in Post-Colonial Africa: A Comparative Study of Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda

Abstract

Inter-ethnic conflict was rampant in many countries of post-colonial Africa, often due to ethnic tensions introduced or exacerbated by colonial rule. After independence, different countries developed different ethnic political settlements – systems, institutions, policies, commissions, etc. – to attempt to address these ethnic tensions. These included political power rotation agreements; ethnic quotas for the cabinet, military and bureaucracy; restrictions on ethnic speech; truth and reconciliation commissions; and many more. Much research describes and compares these ethnic political settlements across countries. Another body of research examines how the specific ethnic settlements came into being in specific countries. However, there is a paucity of research that compares how key factors (“structural drivers”) influence the development of ethnic political settlements across countries. This paper seeks to identify the linkages between structural drivers and ethnic political settlements for five countries in post-colonial Africa: Nigeria, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. It finds that there are powerful connections between structural drivers and ethnic settlements. Moreover, it finds that there are patterns and trends in the linkages between drivers and settlements, and that these patterns and trends can be used to begin to identify models of driver/settlement linkages.