Justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Practicing Corruption, Practicing Resistance?

摘要

Based on empirical material collected in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this article analyses certain practices labelled as corruption as being part of broader relations of subjugation and resistance. In the first part it describes how a system of governance was instituted and maintained during colonialism and dictatorship through knowledge-power that allowed for relations of domination and exploitation to take place. Then, it analyses how in a context of democratic transformation, certain practices of corruption help unveil the complexity of multi-layered power relations mobilising discourses of knowledge as well as practices of subjugation, resistance, oppression and exploitation. The article concludes by underlining that institutional actors have a vested interest in maintaining the current system in place as they represent the nodal point of power-relations.