Abstract
Abstract:
Rwanda and Burundi have both emerged from civil wars over
the past 20 years and foreign donors have provided significant contributions
to post-conflict reconstruction and development in the two
countries. Yet, although Rwanda and Burundi share several important
characteristics, their post-conflict social, political and economic trajectories
have been different. This article argues that the nature of the
ruling parties in Rwanda and Burundi is key to understanding the
countries’ relationships with donors. Rather than seeing aid as an
exogenous factor, causing particular development outcomes, it shows
how local party elites exert considerable agency over the aid relationship.
This agency is influenced by a number of different local contextual
factors, including how the parties were established, how they
evolved and the ways in which their civil wars ended. Thus, the article
provides an analysis of how local context matters in understanding
donor–recipient aid relationships, and how the ruling party in
Rwanda (the RPF) and in Burundi (the CNDD–FDD) emerged from
their respective conflicts with different relationships with international
donors.