The Ivorian crisis continues to evolve. The main ingredients so far are obvious: confiscation of power, nativism as a rallying cry, millenarian politics; a rent-based economy and its usual bedfellow, corruption; a youthful population and postcolonial caterwauling. All these are characteristically modern and connect Ivory Coast to the rest of the world, which is precisely what Gbagbo fought so hard to prevent. It took four and a half months to remove him from office. To fade out the ideas that led to his defiance of the Ivorian electorate and the international community will take much longer.
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