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Author

Peter Uvin

Other affiliations: Brown University
Bio: Peter Uvin is an academic researcher from Tufts University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Genocide & Human rights. The author has an hindex of 21, co-authored 34 publications receiving 2812 citations. Previous affiliations of Peter Uvin include Brown University.

Papers
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Book
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: Uvin this article focused on the 1990s dynamics of militarization and polarization that resulted in the genocide in Rwanda and revealed how aid enterprises reacted, or failed to react, to those dynamics.
Abstract: This book should be read by everyone involved in development. For those with some knowledge of Rwanda, reading it is nothing short of a cathartic experience. Much of what Peter Uvin has distilled so carefully and passionately from the Rwandan experience is also painfully relevant for other parts of the world. - Development in Practice Paradigm-rocking... simply must be required reading for anyone who desires to set foot in an African nation, no matter how noble or lofty their goals. - WorldViews An invaluable anatomy of the way development aid to Rwanda before the genocide contributed to what took place - essential reading for anyone with a tender conscience and a strong stomach. - The New Republic *Winner of the African Studies Association's 1999 Herskovits Award *A boldly critical look at structural violence relating to the 1994 Rwanda genocide Aiding Violence expresses outrage at the contradiction of massive genocide in a country considered by Western aid agencies to be a model of development. Focusing on the 1990s dynamics of militarization and polarization that resulted in genocide, Uvin reveals how aid enterprises reacted, or failed to react, to those dynamics. By outlining the profound structural basis on which the genocidal edifice was built, the book exposes practices of inequality, exclusion, and humiliation throughout Rwanda.

684 citations

Book
01 May 2004
TL;DR: A Rights-Based Approach to Development Vision Process Some Practical Implications of a Rights-based approach to development Conclusion as discussed by the authors The issue of coherence is the issue of Coherence.
Abstract: Acknowledgments/Abbreviations and Acronyms Introduction 1 Part I: Some Debates Of Relevance To The Development Practitioner Chapter 1 Background The Big Picture The Human Rights Debates Chapter 2 The Legal Challenges The Charge of Eurocentrism The Contested Nature of Second- and Third-Generation Rights Part I: Human Rights In The Practice Of Development Chapter 3 The Basics Rhetorical Incorporation Chapter 4 Political Conditionality History of Conditionality Difficulties Beyond Aid Conditionality Conclusion Chapter 5 Positive Support The Practice of Positive Support The Tools of Positive Support Does Positive Support - If Not All Aid - Undermine Governance by Definition? Conclusion Post-Script: The Issue of Coherence Chapter 6 A Rights-Based Approach to Development Vision Process Some Practical Implications of a Rights-Based Approach to Development Conclusion Chapter 7 Final Synthesis and Questions A Synthesis of the Arguments A Step Back: Big Trends and Questions Choices Among Rights A Fear: Is This Agenda Too Interventionist? Notes / Bibliography / Index

345 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Peter Uvin1
TL;DR: The authors offers an intellectual genealogy of how the concept of human rights has entered the development discourse, from the formulation of a right to development to the rhetorical incorporation of rights within prevailing discourse, to the articulation of a rights-based approach to development.
Abstract: This article offers an intellectual genealogy of how the concept of human rights has entered the development discourse—from the formulation of a ‘right to development’ to the rhetorical incorporation of rights within prevailing discourse, to the articulation of a ‘rights-based approach’ to development. It concludes with some propositions about the important role that a focus on rights might play in the practice of international development.

218 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The dynamics that led to massive violence in Burundi and Rwanda are textbook cases of entirely different processes: Rwanda provides an almost perfect example of the dynamics that have been discussed by scholars of genocides: the existence of long-standing, widespread, and institutionalized prejudice.
Abstract: Rwanda and Burundi are two small neighboring countries in East-Central Africa that share the same ethnic composition: approximately 85-90 percent Hutu, 10-14 percent Tutsi, and 1 percent Twa Their climate, topography, population density (the highest and the second highest in Africa, respectively), predominantly agrarian economy, religion, language, and history are also very similar Most significant, they both have been theaters of massive violence between their main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi Given these similarities, it is no surprise that most analysts approach mass violence in both countries in an almost identical manner Kuper describes Rwanda and Burundi separately but treats them as examples of the same processes of polarization based on overlapping inequalities Comparative political scientists almost always lump Rwanda and Burundi together Gurr treats them both as "ethnoclass" conflicts; Harff categorizes them both as "politicides against politically active communal groups"; and Stavenhagen treats them as resulting from the overlap of both socioeconomic and ethnic divisions' However, the dynamics that led to massive violence in Burundi and Rwanda are textbook cases of entirely different processes Burundi presents a typical example of how discrimination and unequal access to scarce resources lead to violence As the discrimination took place largely along ethnic lines, the violence and counterviolence became ethnic too Burundi is a case of superimposition of social cleavages, with fault lines in political power, economic wealth, and ethnicity reinforcing each other2 In Rwanda the dividing line between the haves and the have-nots was regional and social, not ethnic Popular discontent was therefore largely an intra-Hutu, regional matter However, the affirmation of Hutu (anti-Tutsi) ethnicity and its institutionalization in public policy were key components of the ruling elite's strategy of legitimization and control over the state Whenever this elite was threatened, it exacerbated ethnic divisions to thwart democratization and power sharing Rwanda provides an almost perfect example of the dynamics that have been discussed by scholars of genocides: the existence of long-standing, widespread, and institutionalized prejudice; the radicalization of animosity and routinization of violence; the "moral exclusion" of a category of people, allowing first their "social death" and then their physical death3

207 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest the emergence of a new paradigm of scaling up, in which NGOs become catalysts of policy innovations and social capital, creators of programmatic knowledge that can be spun off and integrated into government and market institutions, and builders of vibrant and diverse civil societies.

195 citations


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Book
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: The authors presented a model of social change that predicts how the value systems play a crucial role in the emergence and flourishing of democratic institutions, and that modernisation brings coherent cultural changes that are conducive to democratisation.
Abstract: This book demonstrates that people's basic values and beliefs are changing, in ways that affect their political, sexual, economic, and religious behaviour. These changes are roughly predictable: to a large extent, they can be interpreted on the basis of a revised version of modernisation theory presented here. Drawing on a massive body of evidence from societies containing 85 percent of the world's population, the authors demonstrate that modernisation is a process of human development, in which economic development gives rise to cultural changes that make individual autonomy, gender equality, and democracy increasingly likely. The authors present a model of social change that predicts how the value systems play a crucial role in the emergence and flourishing of democratic institutions - and that modernisation brings coherent cultural changes that are conducive to democratisation.

3,016 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the role of contention in national disintegration and contention in the process of national mobilizations and their application in the context of national democratization, and conclude that "national disintegration, national disentanglement, and contention are the main causes of national disarray".
Abstract: Part I. What's the Problem?: 1. What are they shouting about 2. Lineaments of contention 3. Comparisons, mechanisms, and episodes Part II. Tentative Solutions: 4. Mobilizations in comparative perspective 5. Contentious action 6. Transformations of contention Part III. Applications and Conclusions: 7. Revolutionary trajectories 8. Nationalism, national disintegration, and contention 9. Contentious democratization 10. Conclusions.

2,922 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines theories of relationships between resources and armed conflicts and the historical processes in which they are embedded, and stresses the vulnerability resulting from resource dependence, rather than conventional notions of scarcity or abundance, the risks of violence linked to the conflictuality of natural resource political economies, and the opportunities for armed insurgents resulting from the lootability of resources.

1,348 citations