Intelligence Reform in the Post-Dictatorial Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

This thesis analyses the reform of intelligence services undertaken in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during the period 2003 – 2011. It evaluates the formal and informal mechanisms of intelligence oversight that have been established and the strategic and operational changes that took place in the tasks and tasking of intelligence agencies as well as in their everyday working practices.

The research centres on analysis of twenty-eight in-depth interviews with intelligence practitioners, academics and human rights activists and is supported by the collection and analysis of qualitative data from the archives of Belgian colonies and published literature. In so doing, the research seeks to respond to research gaps on intelligence in the global South in general and on the DRC in particular.

The current body of knowledge on the analysis of the role of intelligence services in post-colonial Africa, particularly the DRC, emphasises the protection of dictatorial regimes and poor governance of the security sector as the main contributing factors to the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of intelligence services. The research offers a critical analysis of the missions assigned to intelligence agencies during different periods of DRC’s political history and demonstrates that Congolese intelligence services rather efficiently protected Western interests during the Cold War period, when the West was competing with the Soviet Union over the control of the African continent. During this period, for over three decades, they incidentally protected the political leadership, which is the key role for intelligence services in virtually all states. In the case of the DRC, most analysts refer to this task as ‘maintaining a dictatorial regime’. This research also demonstrates that despite their controversial past, Congolese intelligence services played a crucial role in the process of democratisation of the DRC.

The research contributes to knowledge in three broad areas: it offers empirical analysis and data on intelligence reform and governance in the DRC; it helps crystallise the view about the limitations of Western-based conceptualisation of intelligence and suggests the need for a more global concept of intelligence which is critically lacking in most studies available to date despite the fact that most states in the global South have a substantial tradition of intelligence and internal security organisations, or else clandestine activity; it highlights the need to consider the context of transition from authoritarianism to democracy as one of the key factors in assessing intelligence reforms in developing democracies; and starts the formulation of a theoretical framework for analysing intelligence reforms in the context of transitions from authoritarian regimes.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Coventry University
Supervisor	Alan Hunter (Supervisor) & Richard Aldrich (Supervisor)