Roadblock Politics – the origins of violence in Central Africa

There are so many roadblocks in Central Africa that it is hard to find a road that does not have one. Peer Schouten has mapped over a thousand of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, and South Sudan.

This event launches his new book Roadblock Politics: the Origins of Violence in Central Africa (Cambridge University Press, 2022), which argues that roadblocks aren’t just a symptom of corruption or state failure but encapsulate a distinct and meaningful form of order-making.

The book reveals the connections between roadblocks in Central Africa and global supply chains and traces how crucial control over long-distance trade has been in the deep history of the region. In doing so, it develops a new lens through which to understand what drives state formation and conflict in the region, offering a radical alternative to explanations that foreground control over minerals, territory or population as key drivers of Central Africa’s violent history.

Join the author for a roundtable discussion with UC Berkeley’s Michael Watts, Christian Lund from Copenhagen University, and Congo analyst Aloys Tegera, to launch and celebrate the book. Light refreshments will be provided at the reception after.

Speakers
Peer Schouten, senior researcher, DIIS
Michael Watts, professor, UC Berkeley
Christian Lund, chair of Global Develoment and Professor of Development, Resource Management, and Governance, Copenhagen University
Aloys Tegera, founder of Pole Institute & independent Congo analyst
Vibeke Schou Tjalve, senior researcher, DIIS

Programme
15.00-15.05 Welcome and introduction, Vibeke Schou Tjalve

15.05-15.30 Roadblock? Politics?, Peer Schouten

15.30-16.15 Panel discussion, Michael Watts, Christian Lund and Aloys Tegera

16.15-16.45 Author discussion and Q&A with the audience, moderated by Vibeke Schou Tjalve

16.45 Reception

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