Institutional Violence: The Road to Genocide in the Former Caisse Sociale du Rwanda

Abstract

Scholarly works on the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis have been too generic with minimal focus on institutional violence in the former state institutions, corporate organizations, and administrative units. Therefore, this paper addresses this knowledge gap by focusing on the former state institution— Caisse Sociale du Rwanda (CSR) as a case study. The research adopted a qualitative approach, with primary data being collected through structured and semi-structured interviews, which were administered to 62 participants, and data collection methods were structured and semi-structured interviews, observation methods, and secondary sources. Findings show the institutionalization of violence through different political periods. Legitimizing exclusion in CSR was inseparable from the state’s ethnic divide between the Hutu and Tutsi.