Marie-Eve Desrosiers is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa, Canada. She holds the International Francophonie Research Chair on political aspirations and movements in Francophone Africa. She specialises in governance and security issues in the African Great Lakes and Francophone Africa.

• Trajectories of authoritarianism: An introduction; 1. The study of authoritarianism, including in Rwanda; 2. Should Rwanda matter to the study of authoritarianism?; 3. Some background: Timelines, beginnings and endings; 4. The shape of authoritarianism in pre-genocide Rwanda; 5. Communicating norms for behaviour; 6. Challenges to the monopoly of legitimate violence; 7. Competition around and within the security sanctum; 8. The political and economic grind; 9. Individual and local trajectories; Conclusion; Bibliography.

'Desrosiers' thoughtful analysis of a rich array of archival materials and original interviews offers readers an unparalleled 'granular' account of Rwanda's First and Second Republics. The result is an essential text that promises to have a transformative impact on current understandings of these often-oversimplified regimes and studies of authoritarianism.' Erin Jessee, University of Glasgow