Souveraineté, sous-développement et le paradoxe nationaliste congolais

Pierre Englebert

Mondes en développement, 2003, vol. 123, issue 3, 63-87

Abstract: Wherever one looks, many elements conspire to suggest that the Democratic Republic of Congo should have collapsed some time ago under the multiple assaults of its own inadequacies as a state, the extreme heterogeneity and polarization of its populations, and the dislocations of globalization and foreign occupation. Yet, Congo has gone on defying such expectations and has continued to display a stunning propensity for resilience. Observing that, in many parts of Congo, local grievances against the state and the greed of political elites have been magnified by the circumstances of post-Cold War Africa, this paper takes as paradoxical the continued broadly unchallenged existence of Congo. It suggests that the international recognition of Congo?s state sovereignty provides significant resources to its political elites and biases them towards adopting ?nation-building? policies and ideologies, surrendering thereby their particularistic and regionalist claims. As a result, Congo is reproduced as a weak state for the benefit of its political elites and with few prospects for sustainable development.

Date: 2003
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