Resource scarcity and social identity in the political conflicts in Burundi

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since Burundi gained independence in 1962, this country has experienced periods of masscommunal violence. Extensive scholarly research has focused on exploring the factorsbehind, and the nature of, the conflicts in Burundi from a socio-ethnic perspective. There has,however, been a persistent lack of attention paid to the inextricable relationship betweenenvironmental factors; particularly the scarcity of resources, coupled with rapid populationgrowth; and Burundi's recent history of internal conflict. Noteworthy explanatory factors,which are often ignored in literature on the environment and conflict, have thus motivatedthis study. Burundi is an example of this reality because of a highly dependent agriculturaleconomy and a constant growing population. This study used a descriptive analysis, asmethodological tool; in order to gain an understanding of Burundi's land question - that is,how limited access to land and the constantly increasing population have led toenvironmental degradation, that served as motivational trigger factors for the violent politicalconflicts that occurred at various periods between 1965 and 1993 in this country. This studyaddresses this epistemological gap. In order to explore the nexus between environmentalfactors, land access, population growth and the political conflicts in Burundi, this study drawsand builds upon Jared Diamond's (2005) five point framework of potential trigger factors toenvironmental collapse. Moreover, Diamond's (2005) ecocide theory argues that there areeight specific indicators to demonstrate how societies undermine themselves by damagingtheir own environment; thus resulting in an ecocide. This theory was applied to the two mainenvironmental variables examined in this study. More specifically, this theoreticalperspective provided a base for exploring how land issues, population growth, environmentaldegradation and political change can be understood as important precursors to the violentconflicts in Burundi. What may be surmised by this study; is that there is indeed a positivecorrelation between these forces, where the values of the independent variables (land accessand population growth) are associated with the values of the dependent variable (violent conflict). This correlation, therefore, calls for an acknowledgement of the complexity of theBurundian conflicts and that ethnicity which has dominated contemporary conflict analysis isbut one of several social rifts.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University