MANAGING POLITICAL IMPASSE THROUGH DIALOGUE: A VALIDATION OF CLIENTELISM IN AFRICA

Abstract

Political impasse occurs each time an African leader breaches peace accords, rigs elections, or amends the country’s constitution to remain in power indefinitely. In a fashionable style, the ruling party would resort to a political tool of national dialogue to reclaim lost legitimacy while maintaining their power grips. Using the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a typical case study of elite clientelism, this paper analyses the call for national dialogue initiated by the former President of the Democratic Republic to discuss the future of the country at the end of his constitutional term in office in 2015. It relies on secondary data (review of extant literature) and adopts a theoretical framework of neopatrimonialism to address the question as to whether the call for national dialogue was meant to generate innovative solutions to the Congolese perennial problems of governance or to legitimize the continuation of the regime by way of rewarding a few sympathizers to the regime with political appointments. As an alternative to a fruitless dialogue, the study underscores the political will under the new leadership of President Felix Tshisekedi, that is gradually dismantling the ancient régime in the DRC.