L’État indépendant du Congo et Léopold II (1876-1906) : étude sur le paradoxe de la gouvernance léopoldienne

The Congo Free State is generally considered as the personal property of King Leopold II, over which he ruled as absolute monarch. Similarly blame was put on those responsible for mass violence triggered by the harvesting and processing of rubber. If these atrocities have been condemned from the beginning of the twentieth century in international campaigns, none have described these as a genocide. This fact lead to two lines of research. The first focuses on the institutional mechanisms within the CFS, which is studied within this work as a colonial state. This approach gives a better understanding of the scope of Leopold’s autocracy and its limits. It definitely questions the image of the pyramid on which the King reigns as an individual. The second line of research goes in depth into the atrocities linked to the ‘red rubber’ scandal. The facts draw out the paradox that exists within Leopold’s reign: that between profit-making and the maintaining of the philanthropic reputation, essential leitmotiv of Leopold’s Congo. Not ruling out the question of the number of victims, this perspective helps us discern the motivations behind such acts and the responsibility of its authors, including that of the king himself. This analysis of Leopold’s reign promotes, in the end, a better understanding of the colonial politics of Leopold II.