|
|
AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
Show panel list
Security Provision in North Kivu (Dem. Rep. of the Congo) ? the Role of Non-state and State Actors
| Panel |
11. Alternative policing - new initiatives or established patterns of self-help?
|
| Paper ID | 545 |
| Author(s) |
Sergiou, Sylvia
|
| Paper |
View paper (PDF)
|
| Abstract | The transition period after the devastating civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is about to finish. However, the peace process is not complete and its achievements remain to be consolidated. Especially the Northeast of the DRC is not entirely pacified and the state authorities are limited in their effective reach of their monopoly over the means of violence. Various actors of violence continue to challenge the state’s legitimate monopoly of violence, spoiling the peace process. Given weak state institutions and a proliferation of armed groups, the question is how and by whom security is provided, if at all?
This paper will explore the security provision by non-state actors in North-Kivu province and attempt to shed light on the following questions in particular:
Are there alternative governance structures providing effective security beside the state and how do they work? What is the role of local figurations of power within these alternative security structures? Who are the main actors of security provision? And of which quality is the relationship between state and non-state security providers?
Of special interest in this context will be the relationship between armed groups and local traditional authorities; while it will be equally important to incorporate into the research the (different) addressees of non-state security provision, namely, the degree of inclusion of security as a private good.
Finally, the paper will try to contribute to the question of the quality and effectiveness of both non-state and state actors’ security provision. The required data will be generated during a period of extended field research in the North-Kivu province of the DRC in March and April 2007.
|
|