Rebel rule: A governmentality perspective

Kasper Hoffmann, Judith Verweijen

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Much of the recent literature on rebel governance and violent political orders works with 'centred' and instrumental understandings of power. In this view, power is seen as exercised over subjects, and as situated in rebel rulers, governance institutions, or ruling networks. Drawing on the study of the armed groups known as 'Mai-Mai' in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, this article instead adopts a governmentality perspective on rebel governance. It demonstrates how Mai-Mai groups rule not only through direct imposition but also, more subtly, by shaping people's subjectivities and self-conduct. We identify four clusters of techniques of Mai-Mai rule that relate respectively to ethnicity and custom; spirituality; 'stateness'; and patronage and protection. We argue that a governmentality perspective, with its focus on rationalities and practices of power, offers a fine-grained understanding of rebel rule that moves beyond common binaries such as coercion versus freedom. By showing its relevance for the analysis of rebel rule in the eastern Congo, our findings further strengthen the case for applying a governmentality perspective to non-Western political orders.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAfrican Affairs
Volume118
Issue number471
Pages (from-to)352-374
Number of pages23
ISSN0001-9909
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
*Kasper Hoffmann ([email protected]) is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Copenhagen and Ghent University. Judith Verweijen ([email protected]) is a Lecturer in International Security at the University of Sussex. The authors are grateful to their Congolese research collaborators, in particular: Elly Habiby, Etienne Chifizi, Vincent Mukwege, Sévérin Mugangu, Roger Bupiri, Fidèle Changamba, Tembele Misenge, Aimable Sibomana, Mustapha Alimasi, Justin Samuragwa, Oscar Abedi, Juvénal Twaibu, and Gilbert Kimwanga. For comments on earlier versions of this article, we are indebted to Afonso Moreira, Christian Lund, Maria Eriksson Baaz, and Nelson Kasfir. We are also grateful to the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) as well as the Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Research Council (ERC), which have funded work on this article through respectively the Conflict Research Programme (CRP) and the State Formation Through the Local Production of Property and Citizenship Grant (Ares (2015) 2785650-ERC-2014-AdG-662770-Local State). 1. Jason Stearns and Christoph Vogel, ‘The landscape of armed groups in the eastern Congo. Fragmented, politicised networks’ (Kivu Security Tracker, December 2017).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal African Society. All rights reserved.

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