Includes bibliographical references (pages 379-385) and index.

Historical background -- The pre-colonial period -- The colonial per iod -- The First Republic -- The Second Republic -- The years of hegemo ny (1973-1990) -- The discourse of reconciliation and the continued pol icy of exclusion -- Attempt to create a rural totalitarian state -- A b rief and fragile economic recovery (1974-1986) -- Insubordination, soci al violence and despair -- War, multipartism and genocide -- The MRND p arty-state resistance to change -- The political opposition at the root of the genocide -- Butare: origins of the prefecture's political moder ation -- Historical background -- Butare under the Second Republic -- T olerance, violence and genocide in Butare -- The October 1990 war -- Mu ltipartism in Butare -- Genocide in the prefecture --Kigembe: a social and political history -- The First Republic -- The Second Republic -- P olitical radicalism in Kigembe -- The impact of the 1990 war on Kigembe -- The multiparty era -- Genocide in Kigembe -- Kibuye: land conflict and political violence -- Historical and social context -- The final ye ars of the MRND party-state -- Popular mobilization, war and the transi tion to democracy -- Multipartism in Kibuye prefecture -- : moderate po litics and genocide in Gitesi commune -- 1984-1990: social crisis and t he rise of subversive behavior -- War and multiparty rule -- Genocide i n gitesi commune -- General conclusion: massive popular participation i n the genocide.

Originally published in French in 2008.