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Empowering the Weak and Protecting the Powerful: The Contradictory Nature of Churches in Central Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Timothy P. Longman
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Abstract:

Christian churches play sharply contradictory roles in African societies, both helping the ruling classes maintain their domination of the masses and helping the masses resist domination. An analysis of Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo reveals that various social groups vie to use the churches to support their political programs. In Rwanda, for example, both supporters and targets of the genocide received assistance from the churches. Churches have no predetermined relationship to structures of power, but represent important sites of political contestation, a fact that challenges the view that civil society, in which churches are a vital segment, necessarily serves the interests of the society as a whole.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Depuis le coup d'état du 21 Octobre 1993, le Burundi est consumé par un génocide à petit feu, pendant que les dirigeants s'engagent dans une série de dialogues de sourds. Entre temps, les causes de la crise font l'objet de demi-vérités et des solutions impropres sont proposées pour un mal social structurel incorrectement diagnostiqué. Ce papier examine les causes de la violence ethnique en mettant en exergue l'impact de la faillite des institutions. La ‘privatisation’ des institutions clés comme l'armée, le système judiciaire et l'éducation par des entités ethniques et régionales a causé le divorce entre les institutions étatiques et la majorité de la population. La violence est créée et maintenue dans un cercle vicieux de frustration—revendications et contre revendications—répression, quand les dirigeants cherchent à s'accrocher au pouvoir alors que les opprimés réclament leur part légitime dans les ressources nationales. Le rétablissement de la paix et la stabilité nécessitera une réforme extensive des institutions clés pour assurer l'équité et la protection des droits et de la propriété pour tous les citoyens.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , April 1998 , pp. 49 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1998

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