| dc.description.abstract | In this MA research, a relatively novel perspective to research the connection between violence and post-conflict land scarcity has been adopted. While much of the traditional literature on the relationship between land and violent conflict focuses on scarcity and deprivation as the drivers of conflict, more research is needed into the ways in which this scarcity is framed by important actors. Based on a thorough research of previous literature, I will argue that it is not scarcity on itself that is the main driver of violent conflict, but the ways in which this scarcity is understood and perceived by the larger public. By employing collective action frames, this perception can be altered to the needs of the larger agenda of important actors. In Burundi, a country that has been plagued by ongoing episodes of violence since its independence from Belgium in 1962, the mass influx of refugees returning after periods of violence and the resulting competition over scarce land has been identified as one of the main causes contributing to the ongoing instability of the country. In the Arusha peace agreements that have been established after the last civil war in August of 2000, the problem of land tenure for returning refugees has been addressed by the promise that the state would help provide land for all those returning from exile. Despite this promise, tens of thousands of land disputes have been reported since. In this research, the ways in which post-conflict land scarcity and the accompanying land disputes are being framed in Burundian news media will be examined in order to be able understand if and how frames of land scarcity have reinforced ethnic tensions in Burundi after the establishment of the Arusha accords between June 2013 and June 2015. This is done through the analysis of a significant number of news articles that have been published within this time period. | |
