UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU-NATAL Civil Society, Dams and Underdevelopment of the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Study of Communities Affected by the Inga Hydropower Projects by BARUTI BAHATI AMISI Submitted to the School of Built Environment and Development Studies for the Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Subject DEVELOPMENT STUDIES at UNIVERSITY OF KWAZULU NATAL HOWARD COLLEGE CAMPUS DURBAN SUPERVISOR: PROFESSOR PATRICK BOND March 2015 ABSTRACT This research examines development aid, development agencies, international financial institutions, successive governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Congolese civil society organisations as well as their transnational advocacy network allies in conflicts surrounding the Inga Hydropower Projects. The contradictory roles of these actors in the development of the DRC are considered through the lens of the Inga Hydropower Projects’ impact on affected communities and Congolese citizens at large. The study supports the argument that the failure of development initiatives in the DRC is caused by a combination of internal and external factors. The domestic factors consist of the incapacity of the state to build on the fragile economic foundations left by colonialism, and the attitudes of local post-independence elites and ordinary people who do not support or promote inclusive and sustainable development initiatives. The external factors consist of western powers and aid agencies which have provided military, economic, and ideological support to DRC governments, including dictatorships, thereby strengthening their patron- client relationships. This study contends that positive aid outcomes in mega-development projects depend on prevailing economic policies, donor agencies’ political interests, the capacity and contribution of civil society to promote public accountability, and the ability of a state to efficiently allocate resources where they are needed. Sustainable solutions to failed development efforts are mainly emerging from within civil society. This study makes three main contributions. It documents the impacts of the IHPs on affected communities and the DRC at large, the strengths and weaknesses of the IHPs as high- modernist projects, and the stakeholders’ understanding of the IHPs. The study also explains why the increase of CSOs paradoxically sustained Mobutu Sese Seko’s dictatorship, the role of CSOs in Inga 1 and Inga 2, and how civil society is addressing further developments of the IHPs. Lastly, this research reveals the responsibility of individuals, development aid, and multinational corporations involved in Inga 1 and Inga 2 to predict the outcomes of further development of the IHPs through Grand Inga in the DRC. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH .................................................................. 1 1.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM............................................................................................. 4 1.3 RATIONALE FOR THE RESEARCH ....................................................................... 9 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ......................................................................................... 9 1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................... 10 1.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND METHODS ................................................ 11 1.6.1 Data collection .................................................................................................... 11 1.6.1.1 Interviews with closed and open- ended questions ..................................... 12 1.6.1.2 Focus group discussions .............................................................................. 14 1.6.1.3 Policy document survey .............................................................................. 14 1.6.2 Data analysis ....................................................................................................... 15 1.6.2.1 Hermeneutical approach .............................................................................. 15 1.6.2.2 NVivo qualitative software .......................................................................... 15 1.7 RESEARCH LIMITATION ...................................................................................... 16 1.8 OUTLINE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH ........................................................ 16 CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DEVELOPMENT THEORY ........... 18 2.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 18 2.2 BRIEF ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF DEVELOPMENT THEORY ............... 18 2.3 MODERNISATION THEORIES .............................................................................. 20 2.3.1 The stages of economic growth .......................................................................... 22 2.3.2 The diffusion of innovation ................................................................................ 24 2.4 MARXIST AND FOUCAULDIAN APPROACHES TO UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT AND POWER ............................................................................. 27 2.5 UNFULFILLED PROMISES OF DEVELOPMENT ............................................... 31 2.6 CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 3. LARGE DAMS, DEVELOPMENT AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT ........... 38 3.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 38 3.2 ORIGINS OF AID AND ITS DEVELOPMENT OVER TIME ............................... 38 3.3 DEBATES ON AID AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT....................... 41 3.4 DEVELOPMENT AID AND MEGA-DAM PROJECTS IN SELECTED COUNTRIES ............................................................................................................. 49 3.4.1 The Akosombo Hydroelectric Project in Ghana ................................................. 53 3.4.2 The Aswan High Dam Project in Egypt ............................................................. 55 3.4.3 The Lesotho Highlands Water Project ................................................................ 58 3.4.4 The Three Gorges Dam Project in China ........................................................... 61 3.4.5 The Narmada Dam Projects of India .................................................................. 64 3.5 CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................... 66 iii CHAPTER 4. INGA HYDROPOWER 1 AND INGA HYDROPOWER 2 ........................... 68 4.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 68 4.2 DEBATES ON INGA 1 AND INGA 2 AND LAWSUIT OUTCOMES ................. 68 4.3 EXISTING ALLIANCES DURING CONSTRUCTION OF INGA 1 AND INGA 2 . ................................................................................................................................. 70 4.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF INGA 1 AND INGA 2 TO INDIVIDUALS, CIVIL SOCIETY AND TRANSNATIONAL ADVOCACY NETWORKS ......................................... 72 4.4.1 Inga 1 and Inga 2 are bad for the Democratic Republic of Congo ..................... 72 4.4.2 Agent for poverty production and corruption ..................................................... 74 4.4.3 Inga 1 and Inga 2 induced conflicts over natural resources and divisions within and between the affected communities ................................................... 76 4.4.4 SNEL and IHPs do not provide jobs to affected community members .............. 80 4.4.5 Inga 1 and Inga 2 do not cater for the needs of the affected communities and clan members ............................................................................................... 82 4.4.6 Access to electricity and other resources denied to the poor in rural areas and the cities ....................................................................................................... 85 4.4.7 No socio-economic infrastructures; intergenerational transmission of poverty; impoverishment; socio-economic and political discontents...............................86 4.5 EXISTING LAWS ON MEGAPROJECTS DURING CONSTRUCTION OF INGA 1 AND INGA 2 .......................................................................................................... 90 4.6 ROLES OF TRANSNATIONAL ADVOCACY NETWORKS IN INGA 1 AND INGA 2 ...................................................................................................................... 91 4.7 SHARING THE BENEFITS AND COSTS OF INGA 1 AND INGA 2 TO DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDERS ............................................................................. 94 4.8 CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................... 98 CHAPTER 5. INGA HYDROPOWER PROJECTS AND AFFECTED COMMUNITIES ... 99 5.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 99 5.2 MEGA HYDROPOWER PROJECTS, INGA HYDROPOWER PROJECTS AND SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL GUIDELINES OF MEGA PROJECTS.................... 99 5.2.1 Guidelines of the World Bank, the European Investment Bank, and the African Development Bank on megaprojects and the Inga Hydropower Projects ............................................................................................................