Religious beliefs, modern politics and conflict resolution in The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

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This doctorate project seeks to investigate the interplay between religious beliefs (the AfricanTraditional Religions (ATR), fear of God and spirits, modern African forms of Christianity and othersupernaturalism) and modern politics in DRC, and its significance, influence and place in modernpeace processes. The project will explore the role of religious beliefs in modern political processesand political settlements. And whether are recognised and used in the conceptual methods andtheoretical approaches to international peace mediation, the design of peace processes and peacemakingefforts, and in the field of conflict resolutions. Many social and political scientists, (Mbiti,2010; Kagema, 2015; Daniel, 2010) suggest that although ATR and other modern forms of religiousbeliefs are important features of the local cultural identities, they have often been undermined,marginalised, neglected or labelled outdated, primitive, backward and irrational. The project willexplore to what extent this characterisation stifles the specific attainment of sustainable outcomesin negotiations for peace and reconciliation in post-conflict contexts.This project stems from my personal experience in facilitating a multi-track mediation (tracks one,two and three)1in DRC in 2012/2013. Working with international political peace mediators from theWoodrow Wilson Centre and the University of Rouen (France), I observed the combination ofvarious methods and approaches to conflict mediation and had the opportunity to co-mediate anintra-ethnic conflict involving a vice-president, senior army officials, some senators and severalsenior executives in the private sector. The process started with a direct negotiation approach withthe individual parties in the conflict, and proved successful. This was followed by a direct andindirect engagement with the parties in conflict to initiate dialogue using the Harvard Approachdelving deeper into the underlying interests and claims of parties and galvanising my interest infurther research about negotiations and conflict resolutions.