Constructed Anarchy: Governance, Conflict, and Precarious Property Rights in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Land issues are at the heart of the Congolese conflicts (Huggins 2010; Vlassenroot 2004; Mathieu et al. 1999; Mararo 1997). Land issues have mainly been analyzed as a rural phenomenon. More recently, however, scholars have shown that landissues are crucially important in urban areas as well (Büscher 2012; Wagemakers et al. 2009; Büscher 2018; Büscher and Vlassenroot 2010; Peyton 2018).Land is a key resource and its attribution is of vital economic and political concern across societal groups. Crucially, therefore,the control of land is a key determinant of power in the Congo. Land is not only important as a material resource; it is alsowoven into many aspects of social life for Congo’s urban residents. Occupation and possession of land are important sourcesof prestige and self-esteem, and it contributes in no small way to determining people’s social, economic, and politicalpositions in society (Büscher 2012).Hence, land issues relate to questions of property more broadly, and as such implicates social, economic, and politicalpower relations in the widest sense (Lund and Boone 2013, 1).