| | That Central Africa in general and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in particular is undergoing a phase of dramatic change, even crisis, can hardly be contested. The crisis, which affects the whole region, is multi-dimensional: social, economic, political and even ecological. When considering economic relations, we cannot overlook the economic marginalisation of the African continent (especially since the second half of the 1980s). On a political level, we are not only confronted with instability and (even violent) conflict, but more worrying, the entire dissolution of state institutions. Concerning the causal relationship between the 'failure' of the state and the economic crisis there is of course much controversy. Some argue that processes such as globalisation have contributed to the economic marginalisation of Africa and indirectly to the undermining of the African state. Others place emphasis on the malfunctioning of the state itself and its poor record of (technocratic) governance as the main cause for the economic disasters that have hit the continent. However, reducing all conflict to its materialist source is too simplistic. |
