Malevolent politics: reporting on government action and the dilemmas of rule in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Since the start of reporting during the ‘Congo wars’ in 1998 the International Crisis Group (icg) has been one of the most important sources of information for Western analysts, UN agencies and ngos dealing with the political and economic challenges of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This article takes a closer look at the way Congolese government politics is analysed in icg reports. It shows that the logics of government and the dilemmas of rule in a country with the size, geography and history of the DRC receive hardly any attention in icg reporting. Building on Klaus Schlichte’s approach to the dilemmas of rule, the article argues that President Joseph Kabila has in fact responded skilfully to the dilemmas of elite inclusion across the different hubs of power and wealth from the Kivus to Katanga to the capital Kinshasa. While his political and human rights records are by no means impeccable, not all is rotten in the state of Congo, and the Kabila government deserves more analytical rigor and openness than is offered by the pathologising modes of analysis used by the icg.