How everyday encounters reproduce public authority This Working Paper develops a political sociology of roadblocks to demonstrate how roadblocks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) contribute to the production and reproduction of public authority. Using a dramaturgical approach, we show how during roadblock encounters, public authority is instantaneously produced through the joint performances of roadblock agents, roadblocks and road users. Drawing on structuration theory, we show how these performances are scripted by social structures–namely, norms, discourses and power relations–which imbue them with meaning and shape the agency of those involved. Because most roadblock encounters remain within the parameters of well-defined scripts, they ultimately contribute to the reproduction rather than the transformation of the structures that script public authority in the DRC–regardless of who exercises it. Our approach offers a refined conceptualisation of agency during roadblock encounters, which provides a better understanding of when and why people comply with demands made by roadblock operators and of the cumulative effects of the micro-practices enacted at roadblocks on broader sociopolitical orders
Authors
- Pages
- 27
- Published in
- Denmark
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements 2
- Judith Verweijen Kasper Hoffmann Godefroid Muzalia DIIS Working Paper series Roadblocks and revenues 07 Roadblocks at the rhythm of the country a political sociology of roadblocks in DR Congo 2
- ROADBLOCKS AT THE RHYTHM OF 3
- THE COUNTRY A POLITICAL 3
- SOCIOLOGY OF ROADBLOCKS IN 3
- DR CONGO 3
- TABLE OF CONTENTS 4
- Abstract 2 4
- Introduction 3 4
- Conceptualising the performance of public authority at roadblocks 5 4
- The institutionalisation of roadblocks in eastern DRC 11 4
- Routine roadblock scenes 13 4
- Roadblock plays with multiple scenarios 16 4
- Reproducing public authority at roadblocks 20 4
- References 22 4
- ABSTRACT 5
- INTRODUCTION 6
- CONCEPTUALISING THE PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC AUTHORITY AT ROADBLOCKS 8
- A dramaturgical analysis of roadblock encounters 9
- The bases of agency during roadblock encounters 12
- THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF ROADBLOCKS IN EASTERN DRC 14
- ROUTINE ROADBLOCK SCENES 16
- ROADBLOCK PLAYS WITH MULTIPLE SCENARIOS 19
- REPRODUCING PUBLIC AUTHORITY AT ROADBLOCKS 23
- REFERENCES 25
