Benjamin Chemouni's personal page

Dr. Benjamin CHEMOUNI

Teaching fellow, course DV400, the Department of International Development, LSE

Researcher, University of Manchester, Effective States and Inclusive Development Research Centre (ESID). Country researcher for Rwanda on:
Project 1: The Comparative Politics of Core Public Sector Reform: Leadership, Accountability and Adaptation in Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda.
Project 2: The political economy of social protection expansion in Africa.

Research topic

The politics of state effectiveness in Burundi and Rwanda: Ruling elite legitimacy and the imperative of state performance
.

My research is seeking to explain the variation of state effectiveness (i.e. capacity to implement policies) between Burundi and Rwanda through the lens of health and agriculture sectors. I take elite’s strategy of political legitimation as the main explaining factor.

Rwanda and Burundi display an extraordinary level of resemblance culturally, historically and geographically. They both embarked on a state-building process following the genocide in Rwanda (1994) and civil war in Burundi (1993-2004). Intriguingly, state effectiveness in each country seems to follow diverging paths, even though it was of a comparable level before the war and genocide. Since the end of the genocide, the Rwandan government is regularly acclaimed for its effectiveness whereas in Burundi state building remains uncertain. Our research aims to explain why Rwanda has been apparently so successful in increasing the effectiveness of its state whereas Burundi encounters difficulties in following such path.

Supervisors : Pr. James Putzel, Dr. Elliott Green

Publications

Peer Reviewed Articles and Chapters:

2014 - “Explaining the Design of the Rwandan Decentralisation: elite vulnerability and the territorial repartition of power”, Journal of Eastern African Studies, vol. 8, n°2, pp. 246-262.

2014 - "The Political Economy of the Fertilizer Subsidy Reform in Rwanda and Burundi", in Reyntjens F., Verpoorten M., Vandeginste S. (Eds.), L’Afrique des Grands Lacs: Annuaire, 2013-2014, pp. 483-506. L'Harmattan: Paris.

Conference Presentations and Working Papers:

2014 - Explaining Variation of Governance Patterns between Rwanda and Burundi: Elite vulnerability and institutional choice, presented at the Oxford Central Africa Forum, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, May 30, 2014.

2013 - Competing Dimensions of Centralisation and Decentralisation under RPF Rule, presented at the conference “Rwanda under the RPF: Assessing Twenty Years of Post-Conflict Governance”, 4-5 October 2013, SOAS, London, UK.

2013 - Providing welfare to soldiers in a scarce resource environment: A window into the strength and organizational culture of the RDF, working paper presented at the 5th European Conference on African Studies (ECAS), Lisbon, June 27-29, 2013.

Policy Papers

2014 - Improving Imihigo : Current challenges and avenues for reflections, presented at the Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU), Office of the President, Rwanda, January 13, 2014

Talk, Web Articles and Book Reviews

2015 - Failed coup in Burundi: what does it mean for the future of the country?, LSE ID Blog, June.

2015 - Talk at the Royal African Society on the Burundian elections. April 15.

2015 - Burundi elections: Nkurunziza unpopular but could hang on in May polls, Blog African Arguments, March 13.

2014 - Paying your soldiers and building the state in post-genocide Rwanda, Politics in Spires, October 8.

2014 - Burundi: political violence a risk, but ‘genocide’ improbable, Blog African Arguments, May 19.

2014 - "Decentralisation and policy advocacy in Rwanda", Blog Democracy in Africa, April 21.

2014 - "The Elections of 2015 in Burundi: authoritarian or democratic consolidation?", Blog Democracy in Africa, February 3.

2014 - Book Review “African Democracy and Development: Challenges for Post-conflict African Nations, C. Veney and D. Simpson (eds), Lexington Books, 2013”, Journal of Modern African Studies, 25:1, pp 163 -164, March 2014.

2012 - Book Review: “Rwanda Fast Forward: Social, Economic, Military and Reconciliation Prospects” A. Campioni and P. Noack (eds), Palgrave Macmillan, 2012”, Africa at LSE blog

2011 - Book Review “Unravelling the China Miracle – A Comparative Study with India (1950-2005)” A. Besant C. Raj, BookSurge Publishing, 2006”, Bijiao: China in comparative perspective book review, Vol.1, June 2011.