Ethnic Conflict, Authority and Non-State Government in Eastern DR CongoThe case of the Maï-Maï of South KivuKasper Hoffmann This project studies the impact of state collapse and warfare on the forms of government and authority practiced by non-state armed actors in eastern DR Congo. As such the project aims to contribute to the contemporary discussion and analysis of state collapse and processes of state formation in Africa. Concretely, the study will examine the everyday practices of government through which the nationalist militia known as the Maï-Maï seeks to establish public authority locally as well as how they interact and compete with other institutions of authority Since the colonial era the central state has never fully controlled the Kivu. It has rather acted through a series of intermediary authorities, most notably customary authorities, missionaries, politico-commercial networks, private enterprises and concessions. Some of these institutions often relied heavily on coercion and terror to fulfil their tasks at hand. Perhaps the most enduring feature of the authority of the central state in eastern Congo is that it has been constantly resisted – often through violent means – by various groups. Analyses of the implications of state collapse at the local level in eastern DR Congo are in short supply. In recognition of this void the current project will attempt to provide an analysis of how the Maï-Maï group from Bunyakiri in South Kivu, vies to establish public authority and political legitimacy in a context of grave, sometimes lethal, social conflict. There exists little literature today which analyses in depth the actual everyday-governance conducted by local militia-groups in eastern Congo. This project seeks to uncover the normative framework through which one of Africa’s most mystified armed groups justify their claims to public authority, their strategies of control and economic survival and how they relate to symbols and institutions of authority, such as the church, NGOs, the local state and customary authorities. During the Congolese wars (1996-97 and 1998-2003) the Maï-Maï group from Bunyakiri grew into a veritable state within the state and instituted a highly authoritarian and militarised government with its own comprehensive institutional framework in a large part of eastern Congo. In 2003 following the Sun City peace agreement the group joined the transitional government and has since then been engaged in struggle for the control of the areas formerly under their control. This was in part due to diminishment of its military base and in part due to a voluntary incorporation in the Congolese state. Departing from a case-study of the Maï-Maï the project will uncover how public authority is negotiated and competed for in this new post-conflict setting. The study will contribute to current policy and academic debates on the modalities of government that emerge in a setting where the formal institutional framework of the state has all but collapsed by exploring how present-day militias govern the population. The findings of the project will be generalised to the extent that they may be used in peace-making efforts elsewhere where non-state actors play a central role in the government of the population. Four fields of focus have been identified: 1) tax-collection; 2) the provision of security; 3) the administration of justice and 4) political discourse. In addition, I will study how the Maï-Maï compete and negotiate authority with other actors such as the Congolese armed forces (FARDC); civil servants of the state; NGOs, the church and, crucially, the customary authorities – the so-called “Bami” (chiefs). Exploring these issues is critical to understanding the impact that continued insecurity has on the forms of authority and on kinds of political processes at the local level that emerge when the central state is not able to provide security for the population. Everyday observations of practices around public sites such as the market, the police station, the municipality and the church are highly relevant for this analysis. The PhD is carried out in cooperation with and funded by the Danish Institute for International Studies and Roskilde University, Department for Society and Globalization, Institute for International Development Studies. In DR Congo the project will be associated with the Bukavu-based Centre d’études et de formation sur la Gestion et la prevention de Conflits dans la region de grands lacs affiliated with the Université Catholique de Bukavu. Prospected finalization: May 2012 Supervisors: Senior Researcher Finn Stepputat and Professor Christian Lund |
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