Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Zaire: The Shattered Illusion of the Integral State |
Author: | Young, Crawford |
Year: | 1994 |
Periodical: | Journal of Modern African Studies |
Volume: | 32 |
Issue: | 2 |
Period: | June |
Pages: | 247-263 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Congo (Democratic Republic of) |
Subjects: | political systems Politics and Government |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/161769 |
Abstract: | This article examines three versions of the integral State which have punctuated the history of Zaire, leading up to its recent decline. By 'integral State', the author has in mind a design of perfected hegemony, whereby the State seeks to achieve unrestricted domination over civil society. The first version was erected under Belgian auspices, and reached a pinnacle of apparently unchallenged hegemony from the 1920s until the mid-1950s. The second was a merely latent version, implicit in the nationalist vision of the forces of Lumumbism, which external intervention and historical conjuncture aborted. The third was constructed by the 'new regime' headed by Mobutu after the military high command had seized power in November 1965. The fact that two of these projects decomposed in spectacular fashion, and that the other was stillborn, suggests that the integral State was a flawed notion from the outset. The illusion of the integral State lies shattered today and the nature of its successor has yet to be revealed. Notes, ref. |