Provincial tribalisation: The transformation of ethnic representativeness under decentralisation in the DR Congo

Abstract

In 2015, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), henceforth Congo, expanded the number of its provinces from 11 to 26. Given the importance of ethnicity in Congolese politics, the researchers investigate how this process, known as découpage, has affected the ethnic distribution of populations and governments by province, and the extent to which it has changed the autochthony status of provincial residents. They then ask whether their findings have implications for identity reconfigurations among the Congolese and for the foundations of the country’s political system. This work was funded under the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC) programme