Pressure for political reform increased throughout 1990, and Congo experienced its own genuine revolution at a National Conference organized by the political opposition in June 1991. Over the same period the Congolese government struggled to implement a World Bank-mandated structural adjustment program in the country. The author argues that in Congo the populist quality of its revolution bodes badly for the future of economic reform. The old regime was forced to abandon important elements of the structural adjustment program in order to try to maintain power, but control slipped away anyway. The challenge for the new regime will be to put Congo back on the path of liberalization despite the painful social costs. It will take both considerable skill and appropriate aid from the international community. -from Author
