[ ETHNICITE COMME SOCLE SECURITAIRE DU POUVOIR POLITIQUE EN REPUBLIQUE DEMOCRATIQUE DU CONGO ]
Volume 19, Issue 2, February 2017, Pages 401–415
Mwembu Dibwe Ken Anastase1 and Banza Kayembe Veve2
1 Département des Sciences Politiques et Administratives, Faculté des Sciences Sociales, Politiques et Administratives, Université de Lubumbashi, B.P 1825, Lubumbashi, RD Congo
2 Département des Sciences Politiques et Administratives, Faculté des Sciences Sociales, Politiques et Administratives, Université de Lubumbashi, B.P 1825, Lubumbashi, RD Congo
Original language: French
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This study aims to demonstrating that from independence of Democratic Republic of the Congo till now, ethnicity has always played a major role for political leaders in this that each one uses his tribe or ethnicity as to secure his power base during his reign. This, in fact, has been demonstrated through the various rebellions of the years 1960-1965, when everyone fell back in his home province to be able to provide a sound basis strengthening and legitimizing actions or ambitions of the interest of the whole community. From the taking over in 1965, 1997 and 2001, people only succeeded to empower, as the political power management system did not change at all. Since the time of Mobutu’s, Kabila's father’s or Joseph Kabila’s regime, political power enjoyed an ethnic or tribal base safe in the sense that each governing, working with the members of his home province. Therefore, other tribes were part of the fair management that hide the image of ethnicity by appearing advocate for national unity. Really, the members of the ethnic group or tribe played or still play a vital role of running for important posts in the army and government, including the Interior Ministry, the General Staff of the Army, national defense, presidential security brigade, the intelligence services, police, the public enterprises and other government posts.
Author Keywords: Tribalism, patrimonialism, neopatrimonialism, ethnic identity, political alliance , Democratic Republic of Congo.
Volume 19, Issue 2, February 2017, Pages 401–415
Mwembu Dibwe Ken Anastase1 and Banza Kayembe Veve2
1 Département des Sciences Politiques et Administratives, Faculté des Sciences Sociales, Politiques et Administratives, Université de Lubumbashi, B.P 1825, Lubumbashi, RD Congo
2 Département des Sciences Politiques et Administratives, Faculté des Sciences Sociales, Politiques et Administratives, Université de Lubumbashi, B.P 1825, Lubumbashi, RD Congo
Original language: French
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
This study aims to demonstrating that from independence of Democratic Republic of the Congo till now, ethnicity has always played a major role for political leaders in this that each one uses his tribe or ethnicity as to secure his power base during his reign. This, in fact, has been demonstrated through the various rebellions of the years 1960-1965, when everyone fell back in his home province to be able to provide a sound basis strengthening and legitimizing actions or ambitions of the interest of the whole community. From the taking over in 1965, 1997 and 2001, people only succeeded to empower, as the political power management system did not change at all. Since the time of Mobutu’s, Kabila's father’s or Joseph Kabila’s regime, political power enjoyed an ethnic or tribal base safe in the sense that each governing, working with the members of his home province. Therefore, other tribes were part of the fair management that hide the image of ethnicity by appearing advocate for national unity. Really, the members of the ethnic group or tribe played or still play a vital role of running for important posts in the army and government, including the Interior Ministry, the General Staff of the Army, national defense, presidential security brigade, the intelligence services, police, the public enterprises and other government posts.
Author Keywords: Tribalism, patrimonialism, neopatrimonialism, ethnic identity, political alliance , Democratic Republic of Congo.
Abstract: (french)
La présente étude vise à démontrer que depuis l’accession de la République Démocratique du Congo à l’indépendance jusqu’à nos jours, l’ethnicité a toujours joué un rôle très capital pour les dirigeants politiques surtout que chacun d’eux et durant son règne, se servait de son ethnie comme base sécuritaire de son pouvoir, et cela est démontré à travers les différentes rebellions des années 1960-1965 où, tous les belligérants se sont repliés chacun dans sa province d’origine pour pouvoir se constituer une base solide en vue de renforcer et légitimer ses actions et ambitions en les faisant passer pour l’intérêt de toute la communauté. Il sied de retenir des années : 1965, 1997 et de 2001, que, seules les personnes se succédaient au pouvoir alors que le système de gestion du pouvoir politique ne changeait pas. De Mobutu jusqu’à Joseph Kabila, le pouvoir politique jouissait d’une base sécuritaire ethnique, du fait que chaque gouvernant s’entourait toujours de ses siens (membres de sa province, ethnie ou tribu d’origine). Le recours aux membres d’autres tributs se faisait juste pour soigner la forme ou masquer l’image de l’ethnicité en donnant l’impression de militer pour l’unité nationale. Mais en réalité, les membres de l’ethnie jouaient un rôle capital et briguaient les postes importants de l’armée et du gouvernement, notamment le ministère de l’intérieur, l’état-major de l’armée, la défense nationale, la brigade de sécurité présidentielle, les services de renseignement, la police, les entreprises publiques et autres postes du gouvernement.
Author Keywords: Tribalisme, patrimonialisme, néo-patrimonialisme, Identité ethnique, alliance politique, République Démocratique du Congo.
How to Cite this Article
Mwembu Dibwe Ken Anastase and Banza Kayembe Veve, “ETHNICITY AS A SECURED BASE OF POLITICAL POWER IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 401–415, February 2017.
