A Violent History: Power and Conflict in the Congo Basin from the Nineteenth Century to the Present

The first long-durée history of large-scale violence in the Congo Basin

Since the early nineteenth century, political and military violence has played an exceptionally significant role in the territory corresponding to the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo. By emphasising the periodic re-occurrence of ＂warlordism＂ and the economy of plunder that characterises it, the author Giacomo Macola offers new analytical tools to interpret the history of the societies of the Congo Basin over the past two hundred years. In the concluding chapters, Macola dwells on more recent events, detailing the collapse of Mobutu’s Zaire, the ＂Great African War＂ and the reasons for the continuing armed instability in the east of the country.

Supplementing analyses of the contemporary dimension of African conflicts, Macola makes a case for the enduring importance of studying precolonial history.

English translation of Una storia violenta: Potere e conflitti nel bacino del Congo (XVIII-XXI secolo), Giacomo Macola (Luglio 2021)

Giacomo Macola is associate professor of African History at ＂La Sapienza＂ University of Rome. He is a corresponding member of the Académie Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer.