Returning to realities: a building-block approach to state and statecraft in Eastern Congo and Somalia

摘要

For years, the international community has been involved in state-building exercises in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. The positive effects from these efforts are, however, not easily observed on the ground. The conventional approach to state-building that seeks to rebuild so-called failed states' from the capital area towards the hinterland is therefore still in dire need of rethinking. What both these cases display, albeit in different ways, is the need for a building-block approach that actively engages with realities on the ground; building the state from the hinterland towards the capital andrnnot the other way around. In the case of Somalia, this is based on the observation that the breakaway 'state' of Somaliland is a much more stable and state like entity than the rest of Somalia. Even if this is less easily observed in Eastern Congo, the argument is attractive as it draws our attention to local configurations of power. Such an approach would therefore be more context specific and sensitive, recognising that states are the outcome of relatively unique historical and social processes, and that international interventions must be fine-tuned to these realties.