The breakdown of societal order in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Research Paper (undergraduate) 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.