Publication

This paper examines means and motives of the Rwandan genocide. The author argues that the history of the construction and manipulation of ethnic divisions in Rwanda has had a powerful effect on both politics and policies in the country since its independence. The paper explains that ethnic divisions and ethnic hatred alone, however, do not fully account for the motivations of those who participated in the genocide and that political motivations for using ethnicity to achieve the consolidation of power also played an important role in the conflict.