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African Arguments; About the author; Preface and acknowledgements; Timeline; Abbreviations; Map: Democratic Republic of the Congo; The crocodile and the scorpion: a Congolese parable -- 1 Why state-building is not working in the Congo -- 2 The political economy of broken promises -- 3 A patchwork of unrealistic reforms -- 4 The administrative juggernaut -- 5 Culture matters -- 6 Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index; About Zed Books.

Reinventing order /Theodore Trefon --Kinshasa bargain /Anastase Nzeza Bilakila -- Tap is on strike : water distribution and supply strategies /Angéline Maractho Mudzo Mwacan and Theodore Trefon --Food security in kinshasa : coping with adversity /Eric Tollens --Miracle of life in Kinshasa : new approaches to public health /Peter Persyn and Fabienne Ladrière --Diploma paradox : University of Kinshasa between crisis and salvation /Télésphore Tsakala Munikengi and Willy Bono-Pasi Moke Sangol --Acting on behalf (and in spite) of the state : NGO's and civil society associations in Kinshasa /Marco Giovannoni [and others] --Hidden families, single mothers and cibalabala : economic regress and changing household composition in Kinshasa /Tom De Herdt --When Kinois take to the streets /Gauthier de Villers and Jean Omasombo Tshonda --On being shege in Kinshasa : children, the occult and the street /Filip De Boeck --Elusive lupemba : rumours about fame and (mis)fortune in Kinshasa /Bob W. White.

African Arguments; About the author; Preface and acknowledgements; Timeline; Abbreviations; Map: Democratic Republic of the Congo; The crocodile and the scorpion: a Congolese parable; 1 -- Why state-building is not working in the Congo; 2 -- The political economy of broken promises; 3 -- A patchwork of unrealistic reforms; 4 -- The administrative juggernaut; 5 -- Culture matters; 6 -- Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index; About Zed Books.

African urban hinterlands are fascinating spaces of imbalance where ordinary people have imagined new constructions of space and time. On the basis of interdisciplinary field research in central Africa, this article analyzes how power over nature is structured in peri-urban areas. It defines the concept of peri-urban space and identifies the stakeholders working, living, exploiting, and imagining this hybrid form of social space. It addresses the way urban populations have reconfigured the complex relations that link them to their hinterlands. It concludes that demographic pressure will continue in peri-urban areas, that the environment will be increasingly degraded and people living in these areas will find access to land for housing and agriculture more and more challenging.

Emerging from two major wars (1996—97 and 1998—2002), the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of Africa's most notoriously failed states. Since President Joseph Kabila came to power in 2001, the international community has invested significantly in efforts to rebuild the Congo. State-building efforts, however, have not achieved the expected results. International partners and the Congolese authorities share responsibility for failing to bring about genuine political change and institutional reconstruction. The former have underestimated the complexities of Congolese political culture while the latter deliberately hamper reform. Administrative weaknesses and the particular nature of public service provision in Congo constitute overwhelming obstacles to state-building. After presenting the different logics that motivate state-building and an overview of recent political history, the Congolese administrative reality will be discussed. Analysis will follow, revealing that implementing meaningful reform under the current framework is improbable. Points for practitioners This article is useful for professionals working in public management and administration because it offers arguments concerning: the importance of taking into account political culture for improved aid efficiency; the dangers of importing state-building 'templates' and standardized post-conflict reconstruction peace kits; the role played by national administrations in state-building and reform; the capacity of disillusioned public servants to hamper state-building and reform; lessons to be drawn from the DRC state-building and reform package for similar initiatives in other post-conflict and failed states.

'The state is dying but not yet dead' and 'the state is so present, but so useless' are also commonly heard refrains. These popular sentiments, inexorably expressed in all of the country's languages by the poor and the well-to-do, have been described by development experts and political scientists as state failure. But why is the state still so powerful and omnipresent in the daily lives of these people wronged by colonial oppression, dictatorship, economic underdevelopment and more recently, unresolved political transition? How, concretely, does the state manifest itself? Does theraison d'êtreof the Congolese state go beyond the violence of exploitation and predation? The objective of this article is to respond to these questions, contributing to our understanding of the function and dysfunction of the Congolese state, notably during the post-Mobutu transition.