The Belgian Congo as a Developmental State: Revisiting Colonialism

277 Pages·2022·26.378 MB·English

by  Emizet François Kisangani

The Belgian Congo as a
Developmental State
This book challenges assumptions that poor post- colonial economic perform-
ance is always a direct product of colonialism by reconsidering the Belgian
Congo (1908– 1959) as a developmental state.
The book demonstrates that despite the colonial system’s economic exploit-
ation and extraction, brutality, excessive taxation, and inequities, the Belgian
Congo achieved successes in developing the economy in a short period of time.
The Belgian Congo was able to achieve this by investing its higher rates of fiscal
revenue in political stability, physical infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
By reconsidering the Belgian colonial state as a developmental state, this
book encourages scholars to adopt a more nuanced analysis of African history.
Considering state capacity and state autonomy as key features of a develop-
mental state, the book demonstrates that colonial state managers in the Belgian
Congo were able to supply these public goods that sustained economic growth
for decades. Whilst by no means glorifying colonialism or the atrocities that
were conducted during the Belgian occupation, the book nonetheless outlines
how different forms of capitalism were deployed to further economic develop-
ment in the country. In contrast, predatory state managers of the Congo Free
State (1885– 1908) and post- colonial kleptocrats (1960– 2018) have squandered
Congo’s natural resources with disastrous economic and social consequences.
Contrasting the Belgian Congo with colonies of settlement and other col-
onies of extraction, this book encourages researchers and students to recon-
sider the dominant narratives within colonial history, development, and African
Studies.
Emizet François Kisangani is Professor in the Department of Political
Science  and the Graduate Program in Security Studies, Kansas State
University, USA.
Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Africa
This series includes in- depth research on aspects of economic, political, cultural
and social history of individual countries as well as broad- reaching analyses of
regional issues.
Themes include social and economic change, colonial experiences, inde-
pendence movements, post- independence governments, globalisation in Africa,
nationalism, gender histories, conflict, the Atlantic Slave trade, the environment,
health and medicine, ethnicity, urbanisation, and neo- colonialism and aid.
Forthcoming titles:
Women’s Lived Landscapes of War and Liberation in Mozambique
Bodily Memory and the Gendered Aesthetics of Belonging
Jonna Katto
Rethinking White Societies in Southern Africa
1930s– 1990s
Duncan Money and Danelle Van Zyl- Hermann
Colonialism, Ethnicity and War in Angola
Vasco Martins
Anti- Colonial Resistance in South Africa and Israel/ Palestine
Identity, Nationalism, and Race
Ran Greenstein
The Belgian Congo as a Developmental State
Revisiting Colonialism
Emizet François Kisangani
For a full list of available titles please visit:
www.routle dge.com/ Routle dge- Stud ies- in- the- Mod ern- Hist ory- of- Afr ica/
book- ser ies/ MHA
The Belgian Congo as a
Developmental State
Revisiting Colonialism
Emizet François Kisangani
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Emizet François Kisangani
The right of Emizet François Kisangani to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-25430-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-25431-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-28313-3 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ b23045
Typeset in Bembo
by Newgen Publishing UK
Contents
List of figures vi
List of tables vii
List of abbreviations ix
1 An overview of the argument 1
2 The Leopoldian state and economy of plunder 36
3 Political order and rule of law in the Belgian Congo 62
4 Belgian Congo and basic infrastructure for economic
development 89
5 Property rights and economic development 131
6 Revenue imperative, state building, and economic
development 152
7 From Mobutu to Mobutu and hubris syndrome 169
8 From an anarchic to a criminal state 205
9 The Belgian Congo state in comparative perspective 227
Conclusion 254
Index 260
Figures
1.1 GDP per capita of Congo and Indonesia, 1960– 2019 2
1.2 Earnings from a dominant resource as a percentage of
total exports 8
1.3 GDP per capita in PPP 11
1.4 Economic growth, 1920– 2015 12
1.5 Real wage of the average worker, 1920– 2015 (1960= 100) 12
1.6 Agricultural and mining export earnings as a percentage
of total exports 13
1.7 Evolution of the manufacturing industry (1970= 100) 14
2.1 Evolution of military personnel from the CFS to Congo 39
3.1 Number of relegations, 1920– 1960 66
3.2 Cumulative FDI in millions of BF 80
3.3 Net FDI in millions of BF 81
4.1 Evolution of copper production in metric tons 110
7.1 Foreign debt as a percentage of GDP 199
8.1 Investments and savings as percentages of GDP 209
8.2 Evolution of employment in the public sector 214
8.3 Net ODA in millions of current US dollars 215
8.4 Evolution of the government and its size 216
9.1 Production and exports of palm oil in metric tons 241
9.2 Production of cassava per capita 242
9.3 Index of Congolese currency with respect to the BF
(1950– 1960= 100) 248
Tables
1.1 Accumulated profits of selected companies operating in the
Belgian Congo 16
1.2 Indigenous enterprises and monetary income (millions in
2015 US dollars) 19
2.1 Supply of political order and implementation of law 38
2.2 Initial distribution of shares in the UMHK in 1906
(000 gold francs) 45
2.3 Spending on public goods as a percentage of total outlays 47
2.4 Evolution of physical infrastructure, 1890– 2012 49
2.5 Ordinary revenue of the CFS, 1895– 1907 55
3.1 From military and police operations to maximum public order 70
3.2 Personnel in the public sector by categories in 1959 78
4.1 Operational domestic railway networks in 1958 (current
names of towns) 92
4.2 Economic plan in 1950– 1959, distribution of funding in
$2015 million 95
4.3 Operational navigable waterway networks in 1958 96
4.4 Operational road networks, 1958 96
4.5 Annual salaries of public servants in Belgium and the Belgian
Congo in 1955 99
4.6 Selected cases of internalized corruption in the Belgian Congo 101
4.7 Transport cost of selected products, Stanleyville – Antwerp
(1936 CF per ton) 102
4.8 Transport costs and price disparities among major towns 103
4.9 Evolution of tonnage of major transportation companies
(metric tons) 105
4.10 Origins of selected industrial sectors in the two poles of
development 107
4.11 Effects of selected manufacturing sectors in Leopoldville 108
4.12 Origins of supply of manufacturing sector in $2015 million,
1950– 1958 109
4.13 Selected impacts of the UMHK in the Belgian Congo 111
4.14 Selected imports covered by local production and competition 113
viii List of tables
4.15 Spending in healthcare by selected companies in CF,
1926– 1932 121
4.16 Major European hospitals in the Belgian Congo in 1958
(current names) 123
4.17 Deaths of outpatient and hospitalized Africans, 1933– 1952 124
5.1 Value of shares in the Brussels’ stock exchange in millions
of BF 135
5.2 Credit using land as collateral in millions of CF 140
5.3 Value of state portfolio according two accounting systems in
1959 (000 BF) 145
5.4 Voting rights in the UMHK 148
6.1 Progressive nature of direct tax on singles 158
6.2 Structure of state revenue, 1920– 1958 159
6.3 Effects of industrialization on selected goods locally produced 165
6.4 Export taxes on selected manufactured exports in percentage 165
7.1 Selected accounts of the UMHK’s balance sheet (millions BF) 176
7.2 State revenue in millions of CF 181
7.3 Evolution of income tax, 1958– 1965, in percentage
(1958= 100) 182
7.4 Agreed investments in the context of 1969 code (000 zaires) 193
7.5 Structure of revenue in percentage of total 200
8.1 Financing of government deficits under the Third Republic in
billions of CF 223
9.1 Production in selected manufacturing sectors in Africa in
1959– 1960 228
9.2 State of national road ring, 1958 and 2012 235
9.3 Selected road networks and proximity gap in km 236
9.4 Transportation of people 237
9.5 Selected manufacturing sectors and products in 1958
and 2010 239
9.6 Importance of four levels of education 240
9.7 Number of health facilities in 1957 and 1974 243
9.8 Number of private companies employing at least 100 workers 246
9.9 Ordinary revenue and expenditure in Congo, 1885– 2018
(million) 248
9.10 Evolution of official exchange rate, 1950– 2018 249
9.11 Summary of revenue in percentage of total 250
Abbreviations
ABIR Anglo- Belgian Indian Rubber and Exploring
ADFL Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo
AGI Acte Global et Inclusif sur la Transition en Démocratique
République du Congo
AIA Association Internationale Africaine
ANC Armée Nationale Congolaise (National Congolese Army)
Anversoise Compagnie Anversoise du Coomerce au Congo
ARB Africa Research Bulletin
ASM Artisanal and small mining
BCK Chemin de Fer Bas- Congo au Katanga
CCC Comptoir Commercial Congolais
CCCI Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l’Industrie
CEOs Chief Executive Officers
CFK Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Katanga
CFL Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Congo Supérieur aux
Grands Lacs Africains
CFA Commuanuté Financière Africaine
CFS Congo Free State
CFU Office de Chemin de Fer des Uélé
CIA Central Intelligence Agency
CMZ Compagnie Maritime Zaïroise
CNKi Comité National du Kivu
Cotonco Compagnie Cotonnière du Congo
CRISP Centre de Recherche et d’Information Socio- Politiques
CSK Comité Special du Katanga
CSM Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature
DDR Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration
DRC Democratic Republic of Congo
DSP Division Spéciale Présidentielle
EITI Extraction industries transparency initiative
ENA Ecole Nationale d’Administration
ESU Enseignement Supérieur et Universitaire
FAO Food Agriculture Organization