Les illusions perdues de l’économie ivoirienne et la crise politique

The present crisis in Cote d’Ivoire is firstly political. However, this paper argues that the 1994-98 post-devaluation period raised a real opportunity of beginning an in-depth reform process of the economic system. This opportunity was not seized. For instance, the reforms did not succeed at significantly reducing poverty. They did not either address the outburst of AIDS epidemic and failed altogether to resolve land conflicts. Since 1998, increasing inequality and social problems have in fact undermined the legitimacy of the Ivorian government.