Movements · zaire_mobutu_mpr_1965_1997 Mobutu MPR resource-state authoritarianism COD · 1965 – 1997· Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution (MPR) single-party regime
Leaders: Mobutu Sese Seko
Doctrine — stated goals and content Mobutu's Zairean state presented itself as a nationalist, anti-fragmentation project that would restore order after the Congo crisis, assert authenticity against colonial dependence, and use mineral wealth to finance national development. In practice its governing programme combined presidential centralisation, politicised ownership transfers, state control of the copper complex, and repeated monetary and fiscal improvisation under a patronage regime.
Policy-content fingerprint — how the framework codes this movement on its axes ↓
property rights → institutional.property_rights
Security of private property rights — formal recognition, expropriation risk, titling systems.
decreased · strong
weaker property rights
Zairianisation and discretionary reversals weakened secure ownership and contract expectations.
↓
rule of law → institutional.rule_of_law
Rule of law as institutional substrate — contract enforcement, judicial independence, equal treatment before the law. Upstream of most other axes.
decreased · strong
weaker rule of law
Personalist executive rule and politicised economic allocation displaced predictable legal administration.
↑
sectoral licensing → regulatory.sectoral_licensing
Sector-specific licensing regimes, concentration / quota allocation, state-controlled entry (energy, telecoms, healthcare, banking).
increased · strong
tighter sectoral licensing / more state gating
Mining and strategic rents were concentrated through state enterprises and presidential allocation.
↓
central bank independence → monetary.central_bank_independence
De jure and de facto independence of the central bank from fiscal authority. Per D.1.5 scope, one of the framework's defensible monetary positions.
decreased · strong
lower independence (fiscal dominance, politicised appointments)
Fiscal dominance and repeated currency disorder undermined independent monetary management.
↑
monetary expansion direction → monetary.monetary_expansion_direction
Direction of monetary-base expansion decisions relative to trend. Separate from fiscal.transfer_expansion even when correlated.
increased · strong
expansionary (balance sheet, rates lower than Taylor)
Late-regime monetisation and currency reforms were associated with very high inflation.
Policies enacted · cd_gecamines_resource_state_1967 · cd_zairianisation_1973 · cd_monetary_fiscal_instability_1970s_1990s Schools of thought aligned or opposed partial developmentalism The regime used resource nationalism, public investment claims, and state control over mineral rents, but personalist extraction overwhelmed developmental-state discipline.
opposed institutionalism Personalist one-party rule, corruption, expropriation, and administrative decay opposed rule-bound, accountable institutional development.
opposed classical_liberal Property-rights insecurity, nationalisation, monetary instability, and predatory state control opposed classical liberal economic institutions.
References Crawford Young and Thomas Turner, The Rise and Decline of the Zairian State Janet MacGaffey, Entrepreneurs and Parasites IMF country reports on Zaire/Democratic Republic of the Congo, historical summaries Notes The movement spans the Mobutu regime; individual policy anchors mark distinct phases within the same governing settlement.
IESET — an empirically-grounded, adversarially-reviewed framework for contemporary economic policy questions. Every hypothesis pre-registered in git before the data is examined.