Panel 1: Nourishing the state, feeding the people: the political economy of state building in the DRC

ASAUK Panel Proposal 1 (of 12)

This panel will be presented at the biannual conference of the ASAUK (African Studies Association in the UK) in September 2012 (Leeds, Sept 6-8). The organizers have invited the Congo Research Network to participate in this. 12 Congo related panels have been accepted.

If you wish to participate, you can join already accepted panels or you can submit a stand-alone paper. Participants should submit their paper abstracts via the ASAUK website. First, they should register as authors, then select the panel in which they want to participate, and then enter their abstract.

The following link gives you more information about registration: http://www.asauk.net/conferences/asauk12.shtml

The deadline for the submission of paper abstracts is 27 April 2012.

To attend the event without presenting a paper, contact the conference organizer David Kerr (conference@asauk.net, +44 (0)121 414 5124)

Panel organizers:

Sara Geenen, IOB, University of Antwerp, Belgium, sara.geenen@ua.ac.be

Inge Wagemakers, IOB, University of Antwerp, Belgium, inge.wagemakers@ua.ac.be

Panel title:

Nourishing the state, feeding the people: The political economy of state building in the DRC

Panel content:

Despite significant external funding and promises by Congolese politicians, the outcomes of ‘state building’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo are not living up to the ideals of a functioning state. State building aims to (re)construct representative political and judicial institutions and bureaucracies, and build up a functional, formal economy based on an effective, transparent taxation system. However, in spite of upcoming national and (pending) local elections, these aims remain ‘modernist’ illusions as informalisation continues to conquer DRC’s (local) governance.

Between the ‘ideals’ which mainly exist in donors’ minds and ‘realities’ on the ground, this panel tries to focus on the ‘real’ political economy of state building in post-conflict DRC based on primary, empirical research. On the one hand, we seek contributions on state revenues, formal and informal monetary flows and taxation systems, mechanisms of corruption and rent-seeking, and the role different economic actors play in state building. On the other hand, contributions on the impact of state building on the distribution of power, scarce resources and government spending are also warmly welcomed.

Proposed participants:

Tom De Herdt, Kristof Titeca, Karen Buscher, Sara Geenen, Inge Wagemakers