Drawing from alternative views on (African) statehood via the notion of "mimicry" in [post]colonial settings, this article investigates the transformational dynamics of routinized micro-interactions between street-level bureaucrats and ordinary citizens in Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, and Goma. It is argued that while conventional analyses of "state weakness" may construe the Congolese state as needing better imitation of the western registers of modernity, ethnographic and historical explorations of state-society interactions in the Congo reveal a different story. In particular, it will be shown that the various forms of "state-mimicry" at work in the Congo result in fact-via the "state effect"-in a local "hyperreality" of the Congolese state in which "copy" and "model" entertain an ambivalent but constitutive relationship.
Current scholarly works in International Relations grew increasingly preoccupied over the effectiveness and programmatic failure of international assistance, especially with regard to issues pertaining to the 'security-development' nexus and the post-9/11 'securitization' agenda. Complex Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programmes implemented worldwide since the late 1980s became a key component of international post-conflict intervention. With the extension of UN peacebuilding operations, DDR packages, which initially embraced short-term security goals in mere support of negotiated peace settlements, now entail significantly broader development objectives. Located at the interface of security and development approaches, DDR's third phase, reintegration, has yielded limited outcomes despite growing efforts to implement long-term economic and social recovery activities. Using micro-level data derived from extensive fieldwork conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this article argues that the challenges encountered in implementing reintegration might originate from high politicization of programme outcomes and recurrent neglect of local programme recipients and the socio-economic context in which they evolve. Despite formal endorsement of broad development objectives, this affected reintegration processes and their outcomes since what was really implemented consisted mainly of minimal activities prioritizing immediate security gains.
RecheRchesStéphanie Perazzone « L'ennuyeux » formalisme d'État. Distanciation-discipline et gouvernance urbaine en République démocratique du Congo À partir de données de terrain collectées en République démocratique du Congo (RDC), cet article analyse les effets du formalisme d'État comme modalité de la « gouvernance réelle » des villes, profondément marquées par la privatisation des services et la dilution de la séparation entre public et privé. Le texte démontre qu'au-delà de l'informalisation des échanges, la mise en action quotidienne de routines procédurières formelles continue d'occuper une fonction d'objectivation de la distinction État/société (distanciation), notamment par l'émergence historique d'une obéissance collective normalisée (discipline) à l'imaginaire bureaucratique, conférant à l'État son statut de force dominante globale en RDC, comme dans le reste du monde.Comment, au-delà de la privatisation de l'autorité d'État et de l'informalisation de ses services, le recours aux procédures formelles et bureaucratiques se manifeste-il en milieu urbain congolais entre petits fonctionnaires des services publics et leurs usagers 1 ? Quels sont ses effets sur le maintien des aspects idéels et performatifs de la gouvernance étatique au sein de la société urbaine congolaise ? De quelle manière les micro-pratiques du formalisme d'État au quotidien entretiennent-elles les fonctions et les institutions de l'État au niveau macro ? Dans l'étude de la « gouvernance réelle » 2 , les villes sont-
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