Kristof Titeca - Böcker

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been widely derided as a failed state, unable to meet the basic needs of its citizens. But while state infrastructure continues to decay, many essential services continue to be provided at the local level, often through grassroots initiatives. So while, for example, state funding for education is almost non-existent, average school enrolment remains well above average for Sub-Saharan Africa.This book addresses this paradox, bringing together key scholars working on public services in the DRC to elucidate the evolving nature of governance in developing countries. Its contributions encompass a wide range of public services, including education, justice, transport, and health. Taking stock of what functions and why, it contributes to the debate on public services in the context of ‘real’ or ‘hybrid’ governance beyond the state: does the state still have a function, or is it no longer useful and relevant? Crucially, how does international aid help or complicate this picture?Rich in empirical detail, the contributors provide a valuable work for students and scholars interested in the role played by non-state actors in organizing statehood – a role too often neglected in debates on post-conflict reconstruction.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been widely derided as a failed state, unable to meet the basic needs of its citizens. But while state infrastructure continues to decay, many essential services continue to be provided at the local level, often through grassroots initiatives. So while, for example, state funding for education is almost non-existent, average school enrolment remains well above average for Sub-Saharan Africa.This book addresses this paradox, bringing together key scholars working on public services in the DRC to elucidate the evolving nature of governance in developing countries. Its contributions encompass a wide range of public services, including education, justice, transport, and health. Taking stock of what functions and why, it contributes to the debate on public services in the context of ‘real’ or ‘hybrid’ governance beyond the state: does the state still have a function, or is it no longer useful and relevant? Crucially, how does international aid help or complicate this picture?Rich in empirical detail, the contributors provide a valuable work for students and scholars interested in the role played by non-state actors in organizing statehood – a role too often neglected in debates on post-conflict reconstruction.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is widelyconsidered the archetypical ‘predatory state’. At the national level, politicalelites rely on the state to enrich themselves. On a local level, civil servants‘fend for themselves’ in the absence of a state salary. Corruption, though, isabout much more than this – it is part of a broader structure of informalrevenue extraction, with multiple layers of accountability, negotiation andinvention. In this unique book, Titeca and Nkuku analyse these processes indetail, revealing how corruption is organised and contested in the DRC’s capitalKinshasa. Exploring a variety of ‘spaces’ within the city – from transportation-and police-services (street spaces) to businessmen and markets (market spaces)to football and bars (spaces of pleasure) – the authors shows how the variousactors navigate, contest andcircumvent this predatory environment. In doing so, the book not only sheds light on corruption andcontestation, but also on the myriad ways in which a key African capital city itselfis organised.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is widelyconsidered the archetypical ‘predatory state’. At the national level, politicalelites rely on the state to enrich themselves. On a local level, civil servants‘fend for themselves’ in the absence of a state salary. Corruption, though, isabout much more than this – it is part of a broader structure of informalrevenue extraction, with multiple layers of accountability, negotiation andinvention. In this unique book, Titeca and Nkuku analyse these processes indetail, revealing how corruption is organised and contested in the DRC’s capitalKinshasa. Exploring a variety of ‘spaces’ within the city – from transportation-and police-services (street spaces) to businessmen and markets (market spaces)to football and bars (spaces of pleasure) – the authors shows how the variousactors navigate, contest andcircumvent this predatory environment. In doing so, the book not only sheds light on corruption andcontestation, but also on the myriad ways in which a key African capital city itselfis organised.