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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Public service provision in a failed State: looking beyond predation in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Author:Trefon, TheodoreISNI
Year:2009
Periodical:Review of African Political Economy
Volume:36
Issue:119
Pages:9-21
Language:English
Geographic term:Congo (Democratic Republic of)
Subjects:public administration
State collapse
civil service
State-society relationship
urban life
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056240902863587
Abstract:Why is the State still so powerful and omnipresent in the daily lives of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo - a failed State? Does the raison d'être of the Congolese State go beyond the violence of exploitation and predation? This article responds to these questions, contributing to the understanding of the function and dysfunction of the Congolese State, notably during the post-Mobutu transition. Using the administration of Lubumbashi as an example, it reveals how State authority endures even within institutional contexts of collapse and broader social attitudes that are hostile towards State power. It highlights the negotiated and informal nature of official power, a commingling of marketized social relations - the bartering for State services or bribes - and the evocation of cultural norms and attitudes to make claims on the State. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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