Resource Politics and Why the Democratic Republic of the Congo Echoes Sudan’s Path

May 8, 2026 | Rebecca Mulugeta
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A lot of policy writing still returns to a familiar storyline: resource-rich countries slide into crisis because wealth intensifies competition, competition drives instability, and instability invites external interference. It is a tidy explanation, but it doesn’t really hold when you look closely at the Democratic Republic of the Congo. What is unfolding there goes beyond the usual resource curse framing. It is a slower and more structural shift in how authority is exercised and contested, shaped by the global rush for strategic minerals and playing out inside a state whose control has never fully reached its own territory or economy.