Architects of Failure: Elite Extraversion and the Strategic Collapse of Peace Agreements in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2000–2018)

Par Kingiela Khonde

Despite numerous peace accords signed during the 21st century, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—particularly its eastern provinces—remains trapped in structural instability and violent conflict. This article investigates why two landmark peace initiatives, the Sun City Agreement (2002) and the 23 March Agreement (2009), failed to establish sustainable peace. Structured using the IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) framework, this study adopts a deductive, mixedmethods approach that integrates qualitative document analysis with quantitative event data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED 2013). Drawing on C. Wright Mills' (1956) concept of the 'power elite' and Jean-François Bayart's (2000) theory of extraversion, the study demonstrates that peace processes in the DRC functioned not as mechanisms for conflict resolution, but as arenas for elite extraversion and individual interest contestation. Domestic and regional elites systematically employed extraversion strategies—coercion, trickery, appropriation, and rejection—to convert peace accords into instruments for patronage division, political survival, and private capital accumulation. Consequently, peace initiatives became ends in themselves rather than outcomes of genuine national reconciliation.