THE NATURE AND EVOLUTION OF THE STATE IN ZAIRE

A number of models have been proposed to describe the state in Zaire s ince the country's independence in 1960, and many have captured import ant aspects of its nature and functioning. Unfortunately for the const ructors of these models, the behavior of that state in relation to Zai rian society has hardly been static, but rather has been steadily evol ving. Hence, none of these models fully explains the Zairian state tha t emerged at the end of the 1970s, nor did any predict the steady decl ine of the Zairian state in the 1990s.