(Des)continuidades coloniais: uma análise sobre a MONUSCO e as dinâmicas de colonialidade no processo de construção de paz na República Democrática do Congo

Abstract

This dissertation investigates how MONUSCO — the successor to MONUC, established in 1999 and renamed in 2010 — both disrupts and reinforces the dynamics of coloniality that permeate the peacebuilding process in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In a territory marked by the legacy of Belgian colonial exploitation and the ongoing interference of external political and economic interests, persistent civil armed conflicts in the DRC highlight urgent security concerns and a humanitarian crisis, which the multidimensional UN mission seeks to address. Grounded in decolonial thought, the Local Turn in Peace Studies, and Feminist Security Studies, this research argues that UN peace operations are based on a modern and Eurocentric rationality that hierarchizes knowledge and subjects, reproducing three central dynamics of coloniality in the mission's operations: (1) the imposition of Eurocentric narratives that homogenize African histories; (2) the valorization of Western modernity as a synonym for civilizational success; and (3) the subalternization of local proposals — particularly feminist initiatives. Nonetheless, these dynamics are also challenged through engagement with local actors and the specific political and security contexts that shape the Congolese reality, which influence institutional adaptations and moments of rupture. To analyze how this unfolds, the research employs qualitative Content Analysis, following Bardin (2011), applied to a corpus composed of official UN documents, MONUSCO reports, UN Security Council resolutions, and academic literature. The analysis focuses on empirical examples from MONUSCO’s trajectory, with particular emphasis on the Security Sector Reform (SSR) and the work of the Gender Unit to include Congolese women in the peacebuilding process. The study concludes that MONUSCO represents a contested space where local knowledge and historical contexts confront a liberal, Eurocentric conception of peacebuilding. This encounter produces both the reproduction and the contestation of coloniality in its dimensions of being, knowledge, and power. While some institutional and operational advances have been observed, the mission remains largely embedded in a Western-colonial rationality that continues to shape its engagement with the Congolese state and civil society. Thus, the potential for overcoming coloniality coexists with its persistent constraints, forming a field in constant redefinition.