The M23 conflict and the subsidiarity crisis

The resurgence of M23 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) highlights the structural failures of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA). This article analyzes how the competition between the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) paralyzed the African Union (AU). Through a comparative analysis of military mandates (EACRF and SAMIDRC) and Kinshasa’s strategic “forum shopping,” the study theorizes a “crisis of subsidiarity.” Far from ensuring efficiency through proximity, the regional level has become a space for geopolitical rivalries, turning mediation into power competition and weakening continental sovereignty.