When decentralisation undermines representation: ethnic exclusion and state ownership in DR Congo's new provinces

Abstract

African regimes commonly use strategies of balanced ethnic representation to build support. Decentralisation reforms, often promoted in order to improve political representation and state access, can undermine such strategies. In this article we use the example of the DR Congo to show the extent to which the multiplication of decentralised provinces is upending a political system largely based until now upon collective ethnic representation in the state. Not only are Congo's new provinces more ethnically homogeneous than their predecessors, but many of them have also witnessed political takeover and monopolisation by the province's dominant ethnic group. In addition, the increased number of Congolese who now find themselves non-autochthonous to their province of residence heightens their vulnerability and the potential for local conflict. Decentralisation, whose intent was proximity to governance, might well end up excluding more Congolese from the benefits of political representation. The article uses original empirical evidence on provincial ethnic distributions to support its claims.

Exploratory Factor Analysis of Congolese Information Technology Graduates’ Employability: Towards Sustainable Employment

“…On the other hand, several scholars have identified tribalism as highly influential to job acquisition in the DRC (Calderon et al, 2021; Trefon, 2010). In Katanga, the province of former DRC president Joseph Kabila, for example, it was common for natives to exclude non-natives when offering job positions during his reign (Englebert et al, 2018).…”