Democracy and development in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Decky Kipuka Kabongi

Chapter 12 in The Elgar Companion to Democracy and Development in Africa, 2026, pp 209-229 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter interrogates the paradox of democracy and underdevelopment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where vast mineral wealth coexists with poverty, institutional fragility, and protracted insecurity. Despite nearly two decades of multiparty rule, neopatrimonial governance—rooted in the Mobutu era—continues to erode state capacity, entrench elite predation, and undermine democratic consolidation. Democracy in the DRC has largely been a façade, with power wielded and sustained by elite pacts rather than through genuine citizen participation. The chapter links persistent conflict and underdevelopment to structural governance deficits rather than mere resource competition. It argues that sustainable democracy requires transformative institutional reform: rebuilding state capacity; reforming the security and mining sectors; advancing decentralization; and reconstructing the social contract through accountability and inclusion. Ultimately, the consolidation of democracy and development in the DRC depends not on elections alone, but on the emergence of empowered, transparent, and participatory institutions capable of breaking neopatrimonial legacies.

Keywords: Democracy; Democratic Republic of Congo; Development; Institutions; Neopatrimonial Governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035348176
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035348183.00021 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24014_12

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().