Urbanization and decentralization in the Congo: Examining governance in rural towns

How are rural towns governed in a context of fragility? This paper provides descriptive evidence to describe and quantify urbanization and the local organization of the state in 67 rural towns in four provinces of the Democratic Republic and the Congo. We present rich data on urbanization, state and local governance, taxation, public good provision, and citizens’ perceptions of governance. Three stories emerge. First, rural towns are growing, boosting high levels of ethnic diversity, and local trust, but are still largely agrarian and with unclear property rights. Second, a recent decentralization reform has been poorly implemented ten years on. Less than half the towns have a state administrators, no local elections took place, and revenue sharing is limited. Third, the governance goals of the reform remain largely unfulfilled. We observe a lack of democratic accountability, high levels of corruption, and an acute gap in financing. Finally, we find that these governance challenges are not correlated with levels of urbanization, implementation of the reforms, or levels of state capacity.