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Re-engaging History and Global Politics in the Accounts of the Contemporary Conflict in the DRC

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Abstract

This chapter critically examines how armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been accounted for. It suggests that despite the shift in thinking about the causes of the conflict from a focus on resources to that of land and identity, these accounts reproduce problematic tropes, characteristic of dominant renditions of African conflicts and societies. These accounts detach the “local” from broader historical and global political and economic structures that condition it and explain the conflict as a pathology stemming from state failure and neopatrimonialism. This is illustrated by two concrete policies, the UN’s International Security and Stabilization Support Strategy and the government’s call for agribusinesses. The chapter argues that the causes of conflict cannot be divorced from the historical and global forces that have shaped the country.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The countries involved in the 1998–2002 war were Rwanda , Uganda , and Burundi, supported by the UK and the USA , added to South Africa and Zambia, as anti-Kabila allies, Chad, supported by France and the Central African Republic, Namibia and Sudan , supported by Libyan aid, Angola , and Zimbabwe, in support of Kabila.

  2. 2.

    The term “multistate war ” refers to the 1996–1997 and the 1998–2002 wars , noting the fact that these wars have confronted coalitions of states in the DRC, though at times these states were involved in occupying the territory more than in a military campaign against other states.

  3. 3.

    A similar category but placing the emphasis on actors rather than factors can be found in (Iñiguez de Heredia 2017, pp. 77–85).

  4. 4.

    An overview of academic debates can be found in Afoaku (2002), Clark (2002a, b), Fahey (2010), Kankwenda (2005, pp. 364–82), Nzongola-Ntalaja (2002, Ch. 7), and Turner (2007, Ch. 1).

  5. 5.

    See, for instance, (Clark 2002b; UN Panel of Experts 2001).

  6. 6.

    All reports by the Group of Experts concentrate on detailing armed group sources of financing. For the latest, see UN Group of Experts (2016b, para. 50–56, 2017).

  7. 7.

    Interview with MONUSCO ISSSS representative (no. 168), Goma, August 7, 2014.

  8. 8.

    Interview with MONUSCO ISSSS representative (no. 169), Goma, August 7, 2014.

  9. 9.

    Chiefs can play an ambiguous role as authoritarian figures as well as public servants. The point here is to present the possibility of exploring the nature of politics from different perspectives (Appiah 2001; Mamdani 1996; Mappa 1998).

  10. 10.

    Interview with MONUSCO officer (no. 166) 2014, Goma, August 14, 2014.

  11. 11.

    Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and the USA.

  12. 12.

    Interview with Onesphore Sematombe, Goma, August 2014.

  13. 13.

    Interviews with member of Conseil Territorial de la Jeunesse de Nyiragongo, Nyiragongo; interview with member of Collectif Association Femmenine Nyiragongo, Nyiragongo; chef de groupement Buhumba; president of Nyiragongo civil society—Nyiragongo, August 2014.

  14. 14.

    Interview with finance assistant administrator, Mwenga, September 2014.

  15. 15.

    The Lokutu, Boteka, and Yaligimba plantations.

  16. 16.

    The fact that the DRC is an electricity exporter though only 6% of the population has access to electricity (EU Energy Initiative 2008), that the DRC is one of the fastest-growing economies even if most of the population is poor, or that only 3.9% of the population uses the Internet and is one of the sub-Saharan countries with the least mobile phone users despite being the source of key minerals for their production (Deloitte LLP 2015).

  17. 17.

    The information in the rest of the paragraph draws on this source.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals, Barcelona, Spain

    Marta Iñiguez de Heredia

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  1. Marta Iñiguez de Heredia
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain

    Marta Iñiguez de Heredia

  2. Department of Political Science, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

    Zubairu Wai

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Iñiguez de Heredia, M. (2018). Re-engaging History and Global Politics in the Accounts of the Contemporary Conflict in the DRC. In: Iñiguez de Heredia, M., Wai, Z. (eds) Recentering Africa in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67510-7_3

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