Sovereignty and Personal Rule in Zaire
by William Reno Introduction Zaire’s (1) real political system operates outside conventions of formal state sovereignty. As formal state bureaucracies collapsed under Zaire’s president Mobutu Sese Seko (1965-97), the country’s ruler increasingly exercised authority through control over markets, rather than bureaucracies. Control became less territorial and more centered on domination of an archipelago of resources […]