Chad. Realpolitik and Aspirational Deprivation

Abstract

Chadians have experienced harsh governance and personal rule since colonization. Between independence in 1960 and the coup d’état in 1990 that brought President Déby to power, violent conflicts, and civil war continuously characterized life and politics in Chad. The political opening of the early 1990s under Déby, however, raised hopes among the populace. Yet the creation of more than one hundred new political parties did not change much in people’s lives or standards of living, resulting in a collective sense of aspirational deprivation, under the electoral authoritarian regime that resulted. Oil extraction starting in 2003 increased the sense of deprivation as the sudden wealth of some made inequality even more visible. Due to Chad’s geopolitical location, the regime’s firm fight against Islamic terror, and its natural resources, various outside powers are keen to maintain the country’s political stability, seemingly even at the price of tolerating the regime’s meager human rights record and internal political repressions.