ABSTRACT
The criminogenic landscape of Ivory Coast could be viewed as a direct product of its post-colonial legacy. This chapter focuses on the economic and political history of Ivory Coast and explores how the state became susceptible to large-scale, state-corporate crime. The Ivorian economy is based on a strong free market approach and depends heavily on smallholder cash crop production – cocoa, coffee, pineapples, rubber and tropical woods. Ivory Coast is an important source of oil and chocolate for France and the rest of Europe. The state of Ivory Coast's history of neo-patrimonial rule, moved from the stability and legitimacy enjoyed by the long-standing leader Houphouet-Boigny to the more unstable, 'predatory' form of state embodied by Laurent Gbagbo's administration. The chapter illuminates the collusion between Trafigura and the Ivorian government in particular through the illegal granting of licences and unfettered access to the port of Abidjan.
