Looking at the case of Iraq, some have argued that a country that is so religiously and ethnically divided cannot preserve a functional democracy. One example that may justify this reasoning is that of Cote d’Ivoire. Cote d’Ivoire is now embroiled in a two-year civil war, and the solutions proposed by South African President Thabo Mbeki, the mediator for the conflict, call for measures to increase democratic representation and transparency in the government. However, the peace and stability that once characterized Cote d’Ivoire were due, in large part, to the policies of its benign dictator, Felix Houphouet-Boigny. Bitterly ethnically divided, Cote d’Ivoire is wracked with problems that arise from the fundamental schisms in its population.

Since its independence from France in 1960, Cote d’Ivoire has been one of Africa’s wealthiest countries. Its first leader, President Houphouet-Boigny, consolidated the country and brought prosperity with his thoughtful economic planning. With a one-party system focused on foreign investment, Houphouet-Boigny built the world’s largest cocoa trade out of Abidjan, the economic capital of the country. Because the cocoa beans grow mainly in the south, the region saw itself become much wealthier than its northern counterpart. Concurrently, Houphouet-Boigny encouraged foreigners to migrate to Cote d’Ivoire from neighboring Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Burkina Faso to perform much of the low-level labor in the country. Many of these migrants settled in the north and strengthened a majority Muslim population set to oppose the wealthy and politically powerful Christian population in the south.

Moreover, Cote d’ Ivoire’s reliance on natural resources renders it extremely sensitive to fluctuations in world prices. From 1999 to 2000, falling prices resulted in severe political problems. On December 25, 1999, General Robert Guei led the nation’s first coup to overthrow President Henri Konan Bedie, who held power after the death of Houphouet-Boigny. In October 2000, violence escalated after the exclusion of popular opposition candidate Alassane Quattara, accused of being a foreigner, from presidential elections. With the economic downturn came the idea of “Ivoirité” or “Ivorianness,” a sense of exclusive nationalism that has since divided the population.

Although Guei resigned shortly after the coup and President Laurent Gbagbo stepped in to end 10 months of military rule, civil unrest has only increased since 2000. Fighting erupted in the following year between Quattara’s mainly Muslim supporters in the north and Gbagbo’s Christian supporters in the south. Despite an attempt at a peace agreement and a unified government in 2003, these ethnic tensions have led to a now prolonged civil war. This March, the former ruling party, the Ivory Coast Democratic Party, accused Gbagbo of “destabilizing the peace process.”

South African President Mbeki has mediated during the crisis and continually advocated the development of democracy in the peace negotiations. As of April 2005, Mbeki urged the ruling government to accept the eligibility of all candidates from opposition parties in the 2005 elections, including the twice-excluded Outtara. However, there are indications that Ivorian society might simply not be ready for a liberal democracy. In response to the possibility of Ouattar running for the presidency, the ruling party newspaper Notre Voie wrote, “It’s an upheaval of all social norms… Now, in Cote d’Ivoire, a non-Ivorian crook, an acknowledged thief, rapist, killer, and forger can be a presidential candidate.” Even during Mbeki’s calls for a fair election, disarmament talks in the northern town of Bouake between a rebel group and the loyalist army broke up after just four hours.

Since the dictatorship of Houphouet-Boigny. democracy has had a difficult time establishing itself. While some may claim that representation, especially for disenfranchised minorities, is the way to peace and prosperity, the conditions in Cote d’Ivoire that have prevailed in the last decade demonstrate that ethnic tensions are not easy to erase. The discrimination, nationalism, and nativism that exists in Cote d’Ivoire have driven apart segments of its population. By introducing democracy at the height of these tensions without addressing the underlying discrimination and nativism could be destructive for the peace process. The international community wants to see peace, prosperity, and even democracy in the future of Cote d’Ivoire. In order to ensure that its future is not merely more civil strife, Cote d’Ivoire needs to fight its anti-foreigner mentality while introducing democracy, or else the democratic measures will simply fail.