Malene Mortensen

The breakdown of societal order in the Democratic Republic of Congo Malene Mortensen

Scholarly Research Paper from the year 2013 in the subject Sociology - Political Sociology, Majorities, Minorities, grade: 10 out of 12, University of Copenhagen (Institute of Political Science), course: Order, Conflict and Violence, language: English, abstract: "In this final paper I argue that theories on civil war today are insufficient as to fully explain the reasons that the violence in Democratic Republic of Congo[DRC] has reached an intensity and persistence, that not even the UNs second-largest peace-keeping force is to control the violent forces. I use this a starting point for an investigation of the evolution in social structures in DRC during colonialism and independence before and after the Cold War. This shows how a breakdown of social structures and institutions led to fragile or dysfunctional neopatrimonialism under President Mobutu and a social structure after the Cold War that revolves around violence. This leads to a discussion of reasons for the persistence and the character of the violence in DRC."