The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a large Central African country that is nearly three times larger than the state of Texas. The seat of government is Kinshasa and, according to the constitution, there are twenty-five separate provinces. On February 18, 2006, the country’s constitution was enacted in response to the failing authoritarian systems previously spearheaded by Mobutu Seso Seko, which brought the country entwined in regional war and poverty. The constitution outlines the relationship between the central government and the regional provinces. In pursuance of the Congolese constitution, the country has a unitary system. A unitary system is where the political powers are vested in the central authority and where the local territories …show more content…
Articles 202-204 of the constitution stipulates the powers of the central government and the regional provinces. In Article 202, the central government is is tasked with maintaining a national defense, uplifting diplomatic relationships, regulating trade, loaning money, establishing education policies, and coordinating energy program. Also, the legislative processes of commerce, companies, penal codes, judicial codes, professions, economic polices, medicine, electoral law, alcohol, war equipment, refugees are all delegated to the central authority. The central authority, based in Kinshasa, has the regulatory leverage in instilling these policies within the provinces. In Article 203, there is an outline of the “matters that are subject to concurring competence” of the central authority and the provinces like the protection of human rights, domestic security, environmental protection, philanthropic initiatives, and scientific research. Article 204 outlines the matters that provinces have dominion over like local tax duties, public works, and the inspection of cultural activities. These “shared powers” seemingly constitute to a federal system; however, these characteristics are not
Congo was an astounding bestseller novel. It was a great fictional novel that took place in the depths of the Congo rainforest. The novel was later made into a movie. Both the novel and the movie were good, however, I prefer the novel. It just seemed like a more entertaining piece than the movie. This movie was based much upon the novel, but had many alternatives and a completely different ending than the novel.
Mr. Kurtz is a character in Konrad Korzenioski’s, a river captain in the Congo, scathing novel Heart of Darkness. Writing under his pen name Joseph Conrad, the main character Marlow journeys to a Congo post where he meeting Mr. Kurtz, a man who bears many similarities to agents of King Leopold’s II crimes. In the novel, the narrator encounters a fence displayed with shrunken African heads in front of the house of Mr. Kurtz. Horchschild states that this “Inner Station” that Marlow sees is based on Korzenioski’s encounter at the Congo port Stanley Falls. This is corroborated by the fact that George Washington Williams, a journalist who experienced Stanley Falls around the same time Korzenioski was said to be there. Both writers detail the atrocities
Imperialism is the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies. In 1870, the European powers took over the African Congo and enslaved the natives. Moreover, they were forced to work the land, so the Europeans could obtain the products they needed by using a cheap labor force to turn around and sell them at a profit. These products included such commodities as rubber, diamonds and coffee (A New World Order: Imperialism and World War I). Unfortunately, the people of the Congo were beaten, over worked, raped, and even killed by the European powers if they did not do their job correctly or if they refused to do their task entirely. Eventually, the enslaved
At The top of society was a small group of Europeans. Rubber agents and other government officers controlled every aspect of life in The State. They even held control over when natives could visit family. (Doyle, 1909) These Europeans had a section of land that they were to supervise and oversee the production of goods. In Belgium, a very selective group of people had control over the region with King Leopold II at the top. He had the final say in all policy of The Congo Free State. Although he held this power, most of the decision making was sub-contracted to government owned companies, such as The Anglo-Belgian Indian Rubber
This is a tale of horror and tragedy in the Congo, beginning with the brutal and exploitative regime of King Leopold II of Belgium, and culminating with the downfall of one of Africa’s most influential figures, Patrice Lumumba. The Congo is but one example of the greater phenomenon of European occupation of Africa. The legacy of this period gives rise to persistent problems in the Congo and throughout Africa. Understanding the roots and causes of this event, as focused through the lense of the Congo, is the subject of this paper.
France provides an excellent example of what this sort of government would look like when acted out. The minister of education was once able to look at the time and be able to say what each child was learning at that moment.1 In addition, Nigeria provides an example of a unitary system. Both in its first (1966–79) and second (1984–99) phases, military rule in Nigeria was defined by the subordination of the federal structure to the soldiers’ unitary command system, with the army headquarters deploying officers to the states as governors or administrators like any other routine military appointment.4 This meant that the local governments were all overseen by the central government. The Federal Military Government could make laws for the peace, order and good government of Nigeria or any part thereof with respect to any matter whatsoever. Such laws routinely included clauses that barred the judiciary from investigating or invalidating any actions of the military. Instead, military-facilitated administrative tribunals, which often co-opted members of the bench and bar, usurped many of the judicial functions of government, while the regular judiciary suffered neglect, manipulation, humiliation and intimidation.4 These
The history of the Belgian Congo is one of terrible sadness and seldom-noted human devastation. From 1885 to 1908 the Congo was ruled by one man as his sole, personal colony; a ruler ironically noted at the time for his philanthropy, King Leopold II of Belgium. Seeking his own colony, he founded the Congo Free State, a massive territory in the African interior that was larger than seventy-six times the size of his own country (Hochschild, 87). A “sober, respectable businessman” by the name of Edmund Dene Morel made a note of something about this colony that blew the cover of one of the largest collection of atrocities in human memory (Hochschild, 1). Working in Antwerp on business at the docks, he noticed that only soldiers were going towards the Congo while goods were being imported, a clear sign that no true legitimate trading was going on; he rightly deduced this to mean slavery (Hochschild, 2). This story is a culmination of unlikely heroes and villains from all walks of life, melding together in an unforeseen way that forever changed the world.
Since the late 1800’s, almost all of Africa had been under European colonial rule, but this changed drastically in 1960. Sixteen African nations gained their independence that year, including the former Belgian Congo, which became the Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 30. One of the key personalities that made this possible was Patrice Lumumba, who experienced widespread support in gaining independence and became the first Prime Minister of the DROC. However, he lost much of this support once he was in office, and lasted fewer than 200 days. Lumumba’s ability to communicate was a key reason for his success and failure.
Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International attention on the colony except for short times, the widespread economic exploitation of the rubber resources of the region, and the brutal mistreatment and near-genocide of the Congolese by those in charge of rubber collecting.
When Congo gained its independence from Belgium it struggled to develop and remained a weak state. There were many factors that led to Congo being unable to progress and create strong institutions within its countries borders. “Political divisions along the ethnic lines were prevalent, though this fact could be misleading. Ethnicity became the primary source of political mobilization i...
Congo's Civil War began on November 2nd, 1998 when Laurent Kabila tried to drive out Rwandan militants who helped him overthrow Mobutu Sese Seko.2 Sese Seko came into power in 1966 when he led a rebellion to overthrow the government of Patrice Lumumbra. Sese Seko led to Africanizing of the country by requiring that all citizens drop their Christan names, and by renaming all the geographical locations with more African names.3 During the 1980's Sese Seko's government received support from the United States, in response to communism's rising popularity in Africa. Because of the misuse of the funds and wealth generated by natural resources, the rich got richer and the poor fell farther into poverty. Sese Seko abused Congo's natural resources and eventually helped lead the country into a state of economic ruin. In 1997 Sese Seko was overthrown by Laurent Kabila. When Kabila took over the country it was in terrible condition but he did nothing to try and improve the state of the nation. When he tried to expel the same Rwandan rebels that helped him come to power, he started a war that eventually led to his death. Many various ethnic and rebel groups inside of Congo who relied on the Rwandans for protection joined the uprising.4 Africans inside and around Congo chose s...
On the other hand, the provincial and territorial governments have jurisdiction over areas that are more localized and relate to the day-to-day lives of people within their respective regions. These areas of provincial/territorial authority include: education, healthcare, property and civil rights, natural resources and the environment, transportation and infrastructure within the province/territory, provincial/territorial taxation, administration of justice, including policing and courts, municipal institutions, and local governance. Additionally, there are some areas where both levels of government may have jurisdiction or overlapping responsibilities. In these cases, the federal and provincial/territorial governments may each enact laws within their respective areas of authority, but federal law prevails in the event of a
“Greek life: Fraternities and sororities.” This is something you will hear a lot during your freshman year in college. As a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, I’m so happy and proud of what our sorority stands for, and to find a family away from my family. ZTA raises awareness about breast cancer. There are countless pros that you will never experience if you were not in a fraternity or sorority.
Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest of the country out of fear of the mutinous army that was out of control looting and killing.
Within the constitution of a nation, powers are delegated to certain institutions of that nation?s government. Although in many cases similar, nations can vary drastically when defining the organizational structure from which they operate. Some democratic constitutions delegate more power to the executive branch while in other nations more power is given to the legislature. This point can be illustrated when the same branch of a nation?s government is compared with that of another. An example of differing executive powers can be viewed between the Russian Federation and Japan.