Doomed to failure: peacebuilding and democratization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2003-2018)

Abstract

The paper analyzes the peacebuilding process started in 2003 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Supported by the mediation of international and regional actors, the main belligerents agreed with a transitional government whose objective was the country’s democratization and stability. However, the elections and the new constituted government were succeeded by the intensification of violence, resulting in the establishment of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO). Through a literature review guided by concepts of the local turn in peace studies and by discussions regarding electoral systems, we established an analytical scheme for the case under scrutiny, prioritizing data collection in reports from international and regional organizations and in studies based on field research. We argue that the problems of the democratization in Congo, understood in a minimalist and electoral manner, are expressions of the liberal peacebuilding failures, mainly because the process marginalized the local society dynamics, immersed in an environment of insecurity and political instability.