Arts , Humanities & Social Science

Abstract

This essay attempts to conceptualize the ‘Apoplexy of Democracy’ by analysing ‘pathological abnormalities’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Politics. Using the ‘Relative and Reflexive Lens’ (R.R.L.), the study introduces and adds ‘Genetic Statenescopy’ to the on-going debate on the Afrocentric perspectives of change and continuity in Sub-Saharan Africa’s democracies. Discussing the implications of pathological abnormalities on government’s performance, the study argues that the more centripetal forces of pathological abnormalities increase, the less centrifugal logic of democracy operates. As a result, the ‘apoplexy of democracy’ Democracy becomes severely apoplectic when the degree of centripetal characteristics is extreme. Consequently, the poor government performance is likely leading to rift and failure of the resource-abundant states that, thirty years after it first launched its democratization process, still displaying negative performances.