Chad’s president lived and died by the gun. Will the country shift away from militarized rule?
Chadian President Idriss Déby died on the battlefield on April 19. That’s hardly a common death for any country’s leader in modern times — and the story breathes fresh life into what has been, since colonial times, a cliche: the view of Chad as an endlessly warring country populated by ferocious fighters.
My research on armed violence suggests that Chad is indeed a country in which politics is conducted with weapons in hand — but not because of inherent national characteristics or a warrior culture rooted in tradition. Instead, Chad’s militarization is the product of a history made of rebellions and suppressions in which neighboring countries and the former colonial power, France, have never ceased to play a key role.… Seguir leyendo »