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4 Theoretical Issues in the Nande Trading Networks Introduction Trading in Nande is carried out by a network of informal entrepreneurs who, in the absence of an overarching regulatory framework, have gradually taken over the role of political and economic power brokers. This chapter explores the origins, the reproduction, and the conditions of possibility for the emergence of a group of transnational traders in Butembo, which has gradually captured the social and economic surplus within the Nande society. This group includes a dozen import-export traders who are millionaires and at the top of the commercial hierarchy in Butembo and its hinterland. They import containers of goods ranging from textiles, motorbikes, automobiles, spare engines, medicine and other goods from East Africa, the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia and China. They export agricultural products ranging from coffee to potatoes, beans, papaya latex and other vegetables, in addition to minerals such as gold, coltan, wolfram, and cassiterites. The group demonstrates a great level of internal cohesion and trust between its members. This group qualifies for what Tilly calls a trust network consisting of social networks within which “people set valued, consequential, long-term resources and enterprise at risk to malfeasance, mistakes, or failures of others” (2005:12). Nande traders have to pay considerable attention to the maintenance of trust and social cohesion within the group and in the community in general. Thus, the study will focus not only on the origins, but also on the reproduction and consolidation of the Nande trust networks. A simple look at the Nande economic space suggests a mode of social and spatial organisation that is more concerned with economic incentives than with traditional social divisions. There is indeed an embeddedness of commercial enterprises in the Nande society and culture. Management of these commercial enterprises is usually confined to a close circle Business of Civil War: New Forms of Life in the Debris of the DRC 78 of family and friends. However, the successes of the Nande trust network stem from the rigorous differentiation they maintain between business for the family’s sake and business for growth and accumulation. Thus, while they remain historically embedded in their community, the Nande trust network operates as a real commercial “trust” (fixing prices, holding and/or sharing information on varieties of imports and markets). At this point, it seems important to examine why the analysis of the Nande traders in terms of network is appropriate, before exploring the origins of the Nande network Is the Network an Appropriate Unit of Analysis for the Nande Case? The word “network” is used in the social sciences to express the links between individuals and connections between actors (Bakis 1993). With reference to commerce, a network is a system of formal contracts or connections between traders to facilitate transactions (Monnoyer and Mayere 1995:140). Transactions are fundamental in merchant networks. Different social relations may determine the degree of connections to the network. A network may involve families, ethnic identities, racial affinity, religious brotherhood, caste membership, and professional associations, among other affiliations (Birmingham 1992:32). One could distinguish different types of networks in terms of their functions for commercial exchange: networks of communication, networks where members are connected and by implication, to some extent, mutually obligated because of family relations and kinship. According to Braudel, “merchant networks link together a certain number of individuals or agents belonging to the same factory or not, located at different nodes of the circuit, or network of circuits, trade lives from these nodes, these circumstances and links…” (1979:125). Commercial exchange networks assume a number of functions such as the provision of accommodations to itinerant merchants, storage of merchandise, brokerage, the transmission of information concerning prices, and control of those who convey merchandise and make transactions (Lambert and Egg 1994). Networks express and reinforce certain solidarity among merchants. In transnational networks, there are various actors located in different countries with discreet rules for transactions: transportation agents, people in charge of storage, guides, informers, accommodations agents, commercial and financial intermediaries, transit agents, public servant, etc. Some may also play multiple roles, simultaneously. Networks may be occasional, opportunistic or permanent and durable (while nonetheless adapting to new contexts). Networks also may compete with each other. Competition does not necessarily imply a predisposition to destroy one another. All networks, even the most solid ones, have moments of fluctuation, and can even be replaced by new ones. However, an active network defeated by another has the tendency to re-adapt and innovate in other...

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