"The present crisis in C?te d'Ivoire is above all political. However, this paper argues that the 1994-98 post-devaluation period presented a real opportunity for beginning an in-depth process of reform of the economic system. This opportunity was not taken. For instance, the reforms that were carried out did not succeed in significantly reducing poverty; nor did they address the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic; moreover, they failed altogether to resolve land conflicts. Since 1998, increasing inequality and social problems have crystallized in the form of ethnic or xenophobic violence."