Virunga National Park: explaining conservation amidst chaos

This thesis investigates the way in which a mid-level government agency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a failed state, was able to successfully achieve conservation goals in a post-war context in the 1990s and first decades of the 21st century. This thesis argues that the agency, the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation, was able to meet its strategic goals through a tactical approach to social and political issues. This thesis argues that the agency began to provide governance—specifically, public service provisioning, security, and agenda setting—for the region. I suggest the case offers insights into alter-states, with governance provided by an entity other than the central state apparatus of that given territory.