At the beginning of the 21st century, 16 of Africa’s 54 countries were directly affected by armed conflict. According to Politics of Origin in Africa, a joint polemic by Morten Bøås and Kevin Dunn, the rise of these disputes is essentially about land, predominantly at a local level.
Using Liberia, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo and Côte d’Ivoire as case studies, this book looks at how myths that falsely lay claim to identity, ethnicity, citizenship and territory have been manipulatively used by governments as a tool to sustain state-building projects, and preserve self-interest disguised as ultra-nationalism.
