Political Citizenship

Following its independence, Côte d’Ivoire implemented a nation-building strategy based on the valorization of the plantation economy. As a result, the country has embarked on a process of economic, social, cultural and political development. The direct consequence of this policy, however, was the large-scale internal and external migration experienced by the country. During the three decades of his reign, the President strove to ensure that all communities coexisted in peaceful harmony. But with the advent of the multi-party system, this heterogeneous population became fragmented. Indeed, the political marketing of community identities helped to build social and political diversity through the ideological instrumentalization of social strata. This dichotomy is materialized by the formation of two socially, culturally and politically opposed poles. In the face of this deleterious reality, this book highlights the roots of the disintegration of the social bond, and invites stakeholders to depoliticize the question of citizenship in order to establish objective legal foundations.