Student Number : 0415917E - MA research report - School of Social Sciences - Faculty of Humanities / The conceptualisation of Ivorian crisis as an ethnic conflict is misleading an strengthens Afro-pessimism. This study intends to show that by addressing issues of nationality and ethnicity, the Linas Marcoussis accord dealt woth symptoms rather than the disease of the Ivorian crisis. Moreover, the conflict has become a mode of accumulation. The conflict in Ivory Coast was ignited by contestation over resources. In other words, the conflict has its roots in the scarcity of resources and the absence or failure of institutions that guarantee equitable distribution. Taking cognisance of the fact that the lack of indigenous capital means control of the state is control of economic resources. Economic growth translated to political stability because the various demand-bearing groups were co-opted and rewarded. The advert of democratisation and economic crisis meant access to resources became hotly contested. Against this backdrop, ivoirite became a nationalistic rhetoric for political mobilisation in the absence of an economic alternative grounded in the contradictory nature of the Ivorian state.