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RETHINKING POLITICAL RHETORIC AND AUTHORITY DURING RWANDA'S FIRST AND SECOND REPUBLICS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2014

Marie-Eve Desrosiers
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Abstract

Drawing on rarely analysed primary sources obtained during multi-site archival research, this article examines and proposes to reassesses the political rhetoric deployed in pre-genocide Rwanda (First and Second Republics). The article contends that the First and Second Republics' rhetoric was not as ethnocentric as often contended. It argues instead that this rhetoric, cautious and moderate, should be understood as part of regime resilience strategies. Born of questionable origins, the two regimes faced recurrent instability and only imposed their authority questionably on segments of the Rwandan population. Unlike ethnocentric rhetoric calling upon limited ethnic affinities, moderate rhetoric was meant to ‘persuade’ and ‘pre-empt’, in other words extend support for regimes that were uncertain of their grounding.

Résumé

S'appuyant sur des sources primaires rarement analysées et obtenues lors de recherches en archives dans différents sites, cet article étudie les discours politiques du Rwanda pré-génocide (Première et Deuxième Républiques) et en propose une relecture. Cet article soutient que les discours de la Première et Deuxième Républiques n’étaient pas aussi ethnocentriques que ce que l'on prétend souvent. L'article maintient que ces discours, de nature plutôt prudente et modérée, faisaient en fait partie des stratégies de résilience des deux régimes. Nés de circonstances problématiques, les deux régimes furent également régulièrement aux prises avec de l'instabilité et n'imposèrent leur autorité que de manière imparfaite sur certains segments de la population rwandaise. Contrairement à un discours ethnocentrique visant des affinités ethniques limitées, ces discours tentaient donc de ‘convaincre’ et ‘déjouer’, soit de favoriser un soutien élargi à des régimes incertains de leurs assises.

Type
Talking Power
Information
Africa , Volume 84 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 199 - 225
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2014 

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