Insurgent Nationalism: Political Imagination and Rupture in Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

Non-separatist insurgents unable to overthrow a sitting government often face a problem successful rebellions can avoid: They are not the only players who can claim to be acting on behalf of the nation. They will have to imagine the nation in a new way that distinguishes them from the older, established nationalism usually promoted by the existing government. This new nationalism aims to legitimise their actions, but first and foremost it has to be attractive to the population in the region under insurgent control and later to others as well. Each camp, the government and the insurgent side, articulates its understanding of the nation to the other side. In the process, both sides often also adopt different forms of imagination to render the specifics of their nationalism more visible to their followers as well as to partisans in the other camp. This article analyses this political articulation by taking Côte d'Ivoire as an example.