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Rating: 
Summary: Was the development industry complicit?
Review: Uvin's argument is not that aid workers in Rwanda participated in the genocide of 1994, nor even that they were accomplices in it. Rather, "AIDING VIOLENCE" contends that the development business--by the very nature of its mission--contributed to a state of severe inequity and "structural violence" that over many decades had made Rwanda fertile ground for widespread ethnic hatred leading to massive bloodshed.It is the apolitical nature of aid, the author tells us, that plays into the hands of the killers and their ringleaders. The book is reminiscent of Ferguson's "ANTI-POLITICS MACHINE" in this way. Where Uvin's contribution is greatest is his ability to situate this discussion about the ramifications of "development" in the Rwandan context, with ample documentary support for his conclusions. He also isn't so naive as to think that the Rwandan genocide was somehow foisted on a passive population by an overpoweringly evil elite. Sure, they were evil, but the hundreds of thousands of Rwandans who took part in the violence had more reason to do so than simply because their leaders told them to. This book will likely give you some serious doubts about the entire concept of development and just what it means anyway in a world rife with turmoil, inequality and discrimination. And that is precisely what Uvin intended it to do.
Rating:
Summary: Was the development industry complicit?
Review: Uvin's argument is not that aid workers in Rwanda participated in the genocide of 1994, nor even that they were accomplices in it. Rather, "AIDING VIOLENCE" contends that the development business--by the very nature of its mission--contributed to a state of severe inequity and "structural violence" that over many decades had made Rwanda fertile ground for widespread ethnic hatred leading to massive bloodshed. It is the apolitical nature of aid, the author tells us, that plays into the hands of the killers and their ringleaders. The book is reminiscent of Ferguson's "ANTI-POLITICS MACHINE" in this way. Where Uvin's contribution is greatest is his ability to situate this discussion about the ramifications of "development" in the Rwandan context, with ample documentary support for his conclusions. He also isn't so naive as to think that the Rwandan genocide was somehow foisted on a passive population by an overpoweringly evil elite. Sure, they were evil, but the hundreds of thousands of Rwandans who took part in the violence had more reason to do so than simply because their leaders told them to. This book will likely give you some serious doubts about the entire concept of development and just what it means anyway in a world rife with turmoil, inequality and discrimination. And that is precisely what Uvin intended it to do.
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