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Background For most people in the western world it is normal, maybe even natural, that a country has a government that has the last say in all of the country. It is what most of us have been raised with, and that during many years has been reproduced as the norm. There is however, several countries where this isn’t the case, where the integration of the territory isn’t a reality, because of fighting between that stat and other actors that also lay claim to the territory. In the last decades there has been a significant drop in the number of civil wars i the world’s countries, only this isn’t the case in Africa, where the number of civil wars is staggeringly high. The election in DRC (Democratic Republic Congo) November 2006 was the first democratic election in a very long time. The fact that the election was made in relative peace, and was a big democratic success, is an indication of the progress that has occurred in the country since the war ended in 2002. The question now is what this election will mean to the countries future. Joseph Kabila, the countries president both during the interim government and now the winner of the democratic election, that in a western understanding of democracy means, that he has the legitimate right to rule the country according to his politics. But this isn’t in Europe but in Africa, and also in a country where peace and stability still is a mere dream. DRC is a very big country rich in resources, which among other resources has about 50% of all the forest in Africa, and a river system, that according to MONUC has the capacity to give hydro energy to the entire continent. Besides this the country has very big deposits of varies minerals like cobber, cobalt, colton , gold and diamonds In this light it is tragic that a country this rich, is so poor, according to UNDP DRC is the 10’th poorest country in the world. The war in 1998 – 2002, was a complex war, that on one hand was a international war, that even been named the first world war of Africa. On the other hand, the war was also a civil war where several fractions fought with or against each other. The period leading up to the war, and during the war itself lead to a regular state collapse in the country, and an increase fragmentation of the territory. Officially the war ended in 2002 but parts of the country still suffers under fighting between different national and international supported military or paramilitary groups. The war was the deadliest war in the world since the Second World War, and still today1000 – 2000 people die every day of factor related to the war. DRC borders up to 9 other countries, and it is according to MONUC not possible to imagine the southern Africa a peaceful and stabile area, without a stabilization of DRC. A stabilization of DRC demands at a minimum that the state obtains a greater level of control of the territory, which will enable it to start a creating a greater amount of stability and control in the territory. Stability is more that just a stop in the violence, it also demands an addressing of the causes for the violence, hence it demands that the state starts a state – and nation building project, that eventually will enable the state to secure peace and stability in the territory. The large resource deposits, the countries potential part in generation stability in a large part of the southern part of Africa and the countries potential to generate a huge amount of co2 free energy, means that I find it interesting to look at this country, and especially how the rich resource deposits, which could have been a blessing for the country, hasn’t been able to save the country, or maybe even has been a contributing factor in the devastating situation the country is in. It is important to have knowledge about the resources earlier effect on the integration of the territory, for hereby possibly to minimise this harmful effects. Results Through a theory apparatus made with Pierre Bourdieu’s 4 state capitals as the focal point, I take an analytical look at the ongoing state – and nation building process in the country, with an emphasis on the resources in the country, and especially the negative effects some of these resources have had on the stability in the country. Though-out the short time the country has existed as an independent state, the country has often had serious problems related to is vast deposits of various resources, which leads to what this paper attempts, which is to identify central areas where the resources of the country affect the states capacity, or ability to generate a territorial integration in the country. I find that the vast resource deposits in the country, still pose a big obstacle for the territorial integration. I find that the resource deposit affects the state’s capacity to establish on two different levels. One is the fight over the land that contains the resources, which creates conflicts between the state and different groups, who claim territorial rights over resource rich areas and thereby negatively affecting the territorial integration in the country. The second level on how the resources affect the capacity of the state to establish a territorial integration is on government level and how the resources still affects the governance of the government, though corruption and patrimoniel networks, and how this affects the government members wish for a more complete territorial integration, because a less integrated country means greater opportunity to clandestine operations. Conclusion This paper concludes, that even though the election in 2006 was a success, the country is far from being an integrated state, and that the resources has an important role in this, because of the immediate gains these resources promises leads to greed and fights over the territorial control of resource rich areas. Many years of missing public spending have created a centrifugal effect, which has driven the population to seek other forms of societies than the state. The current government has had difficulties to alter this, and has been reluctant to spend much of the state budget on poverty reduction programs, which means that an centripetal effect of the state, might be far in the future. |
